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Larry B
larryisall@yahoo.com
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| Posted: |
2/6/2007 12:40:31 AM |
Number of Reads: |
124601 |
| Last Reply: |
2/9/2007 1:04:27 AM |
Number of Replies: |
1 |
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Browsing the current week's Worship Planning Helps (Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany - February 11, 2007) I was saddened as I read, under the heading of "Atmospherics," and within an otherwise thoughtful discussion ot the "duality" of each this day's appointed scriptures: "Opposite colors come to mind — black and white, or perhaps better, red and green, or purple and yellow, or orange and blue to avoid any associations with the racist rhetoric of this country's past."
We are in far worse shape as a church than even our severest detractors might suggest if the simple and obvious contrasting of the colors "black and white" elicit racist thoughts and images. The thought escaped me, even as I read "or perhaps even better..." and wondering why until I reached the author's strained suggestion that such a contrast might conjur up imamages and "associations with the racist rhetoric of this country's past."
Until we are free to speak of colors, such as black and white, as simply colors of obvious contrast, without interjecting their very saying with accustaions of racism or racist images or thoughts of past racism we are indeed displaying our own "racism."
Black is black and that is good. White is white and that is good. Black is not white and white is not black and that is good. All God's natural creation is good and I, for one, take delight in proclaiming it and affirming it and shudder to think that some are still of the mind that we should be afraid to call things by their proper name owing to some tragic past "offense" against each other and against God.
If we are not healed of the past (and certainly some are not) healing is not ever going to be achieved if we keep dredging it up in such a manner as to suggest that there is something hurtful or racist in calling a color by its proper name and contrasting it with another color. That seems to be an affront to God's creation and to each other.
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