James 5:16 Racial Reconciliation

CONFESS/FORGIVENESS/RACISM Following the lead set by the United States Senate a couple of months ago, churches in Abbeville South Carolina are planning to hold reconciliation services to apologize for not trying to stop racial strife decades ago. During the service, white church leaders will confess the sins of their ancestors and apologize to African American for incidents such as lynchings that took place in the early part of the twentieth century. Ministers representing the African American community plan to accept the apology and then extend forgiveness. Dora Dee Johnson, the great-great granddaughter of one prominent victim of a lynching says she thinks the special reconciliation services are a good idea.

—USA TODAY, S.C. town sorry for sins of the past, July8-10, 2005, pg. 3A. Submitted by Jim Sandell.

James 5:16 (NASB77) "Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." 5:16 Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.NRSV It is not God's plan that his people be alone. Members of Christ's body should be able to count on others for support and prayer, especially when they are sick or suffering. The elders should be on call to respond to the illness of any member, and the church should stay alert to pray for the healing of any who are sick. But we are often not only guilty of hesitating to lean on each other in our sicknesses and weaknesses. We are even more liable not to confess our sins to each other. Fellowship in our churches could be vastly improved if we could follow James's formula here. Confessing our sins—such as resentment, a grudge, lack of forgiveness, etc.—can and often does lead to the healing of physical ailments. Unresolved anger and guilt create real stress. If a believer could freely confess sin to someone whom he or she has wronged, confess publicly to the entire church if needed, or confess in private (if more appropriate), and then have the church pray for him or her, the barriers that are erected between people could be torn down.

LIFE APPLICATION

WHY CONFESS SIN? Christ has made it possible for us to go directly to God for forgiveness. But confessing our sins to one another still has an important place in the life of the church. l If we have sinned against an individual, we must ask that person to forgive us. l If our sin has affected the church, we must confess it publicly. l If we need loving support as we struggle with a sin, we should confess the sin to those who are able to provide that support. l If after confessing a private sin to God we still don't feel his forgiveness, we may wish to confess that sin to a fellow believer and hear him or her assure us of God's pardon.

Life Application Bible Commentary - James.

Racism is alive and well in America. Although civil rights laws were passed thirty years ago, too little has changed. The United States should have learned that morality cannot be legislated, and that legislation must be moral. Civil rights have helped people to change, but no amount of legislation can change the heart of human society.

DEFINITIONS:

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the term: "A strong feeling for or against something formed before one knows the facts; bias. Irrational hostility toward members of a particular race, religion or group."

Ruth Benedict, in Race: Science and Politics, gives this definition: "Racism is the dogma that one ethnic group is condemned by nature to hereditary inferiority and another groups is destined to hereditary superiority."

George Kelsey, in Racism and the Christian Understanding of Man declares: Racism is a faith. It is a form of idolatry...Multitudes of men gain their sense of the 'power of being' from their membership in the superior race...racism is a form of idolatry, for it elevates the human factor to the level of the ultimate. The God of racism is the race, the ultimate center of value. (pp. 9, 27)

In his book, For Whites Only, Robert Terry suggests that Racism exists when one race or color group intentionally or unintentionally refuses to share power, distributes resources inequitably, maintains unresponsive institutional policies and procedures, and imposes ethnocentric culture on any other race-color group for its supposed benefit and justifies its action by blaming the other race-color group.

The Academic American Encyclopedia defines racism as referring to any theory or doctrine stating that inherited physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, hair texture, and the like, determine behavior patterns, personality traits, or intellectual abilities. In practice, racism typically takes the form of a claim that some human 'races' [a concept scientists seldom recognize as a legitimate biological category] are superior to others.

DEALING WITH RACISM

If racism is unjust and justice is a necessary ingredient of a healthy society, then dealing with racism must be a goal of every social system—especially family, school, church, and youth groups.

Racism does not occur only on an individual level; the biggest problem with racial injustice is corporate. The United States, as a whole, benefits whites over all minorities, especially black Americans. White Americans usually think of racism in terms of prejudice; black Americans consider racism in terms of power. Racism, in fact, should be viewed as prejudice plus power. In order to combat racism, society must look for solutions that affect the way America operates. Blacks and other minorities continue to be on the bottom of society in education, jobs, and income, and they comprise a disproportionately high percentage of the prison population. And the church, as Martin Luther King noted 52 years ago, is still one of the most segregated institutions in the country. Many are "race weary"—tired of talking about and dealing with the problem. Many whites fail to recognize that the problem still exists, while blacks become more angry and frustrated with the bleak reality of any future equality. Many in the black community have given up on looking to government and white society to solve the problem.

All in all, it is a bleak picture. In fact, why even talk about it? If it will not go away, why bother with it at all? American society must deal with it. William Pannell, in his book, The Coming Race Wars, predicts that the anger and frustration building on both sides of the race issue will eventually erupt into chaos if something is not done. More importantly, racism is a basic justice issue; eventually, injustice defeats a society.

Steps to Racial Reconciliation

1.Relationship

It is not God's plan that his people be alone.

2. Repent

Confess to Someone you have wronged.

3. Restoration

James urges Christians to help backsliders return to God. By taking the initiative, praying for the person, and acting in love, we can meet the person where he or she is and encourage his or her return to God.

4. Restitution

the restoration of something lost or stolen to its proper owner:

More Fresh Illustrations.

Youthworker's Encyclopedia 2000.