DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
COLOR BLIND CHURCH?

Looking forward to serving alongside Vicki Yohe this weekend in MD.

Color blind casting (the practice of casting a role without considering ethnicity) is supposed to be all the rage these days.

Angelina Jolie will follow in Elizabeth Taylor’s footsteps as the next Egyptian queen Cleopatra.
No comment. :=) And Samuel L. Jackson has benefited from the reinterpretation of General Nick Fury in Marvel’s The Avengers franchise. This last movie just hit $1 billion in 19 days, by the way.

But does color blindness work in the church?
Or better yet, should it even be our goal?

Color blindness is defined as the inability to distinguish the differences between certain colors. Most people with the actual retina condition have trouble distinguishing between red and green and really have to know their way around a traffic light.

Others refer to color blindness as an ideal state of society in which people don’t see color, race or ethnicity when they deal with other people.

For the record, I don’t believe this secondary color blindness is possible in our wonderful America. We have too much racial history and baggage.

In our country, no matter what people say, they will not be able to look at me and not see that I am a woman of color. They may not know what I am, and I’ve had more than one industry professional ask me that exact question, but no one looks at me and goes color blind. They see that I have color, and I love it.

I believe we all should embrace who we are. We have no control whatsoever of who are parents are or our bloodlines. We are born as we are, and if we believe in an all-knowing God, we believe that our formation is not a random accident. We have purpose.

So, back to my original question, does color blindness work in the church?
I don’t think so.
Neither do I think it should.
The church is not a building. It’s a huge family!
A multi-cultural family of all nations, tribes, people and languages held together by a common belief in Jesus as our Messiah.

When John recorded his heavenly vision in the Book of Revelation, he noted the diversity of God’s people:

REVELATION 7:9-17
Excerpt:
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Does that sound like God is trying to make us color blind?
Not at all.
Around the heavenly throne is a great multitude of every color we can imagine.
The heavenly choirs are more diverse than “We are the World” Part I and Part II.

Now, that being said, can the church do a better job of loving one another and others who happen to be different colors and ethnicity. Of course! The church, the family of God, need to lead the way in reconciliation, positive race relations, and treating people with equality regardless of ethnicity.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King is credited as saying, “the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning.”

If we worship in the communities where we live, and those communities are homogeneous, that could explain the segregation. But the truth is, many worshipers get in their cars and drive up to 45 minutes across town to serve in segregated congregations. People worship and serve where they feel most comfortable. I believe God is more concerned about His children walking with Him, meeting the needs of others and fulfilling His commission.

I have to admit that I am biased, though.

We’ve started a bible fellowship in Beverly Hills that champions the vision from Revelation. We dream of a fellowship that looks like heaven (diverse), sounds like heaven (worship-filled), loves like God loves and lives like Christ lives.

One of our visitors recently commented, “This really has to be God. Where else can you find a place where a hip hop dancer and a descendant of a concentration camp survivor can worship together?”

She was not being color blind.
She marveled at the diversity of color the Lord brought together. Why else would these two of cross-generation and cross-culture ever even meet?

She caught a glimpse of the family.
She caught a glimpse of heaven.
And we yearn for heaven.

Deep down, we can’t wait for John’s Revelation 7:16-17 to come to pass:
16 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Bring it on!

This Saturday I get to experience a little bit of heaven as I serve alongside Dove Award and Stellar Award nominee, Vicki Yohe, (pictured below). I have been invited to give the keynote for the “Reveal Your Glory” Event and Concert at New Antioch Baptist Church in Randallstown, MD. Program starts at 3 PM.

When interviewed by CBN, Vicki, who ministers in song in black and white churches alike, recently said, “ Faith is not a color, and the Lord loves all of His children the same.”

Thank God our faith isn’t a color.
And thank God He made His family of faith all kinds of colors.
We are one big beautiful sea of hues.
And I celebrate us.

Loving my 3-D, one red lens, one blue lens glasses,
Naima

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