[This Reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 01/Mar/2020]
I didn’t watch the recent Brit Awards, but I did see an excerpt on the news where the rapper Dave repeatedly accused the Prime Minister of being a racist. I must admit that I have no idea what Boris Johnson said or did to be a racist but I did read that the Home Secretary, Preti Patel, who is of an ethnic minority said, “I know Boris Johnson very well, no way is he a racist.” When I was young it was quite acceptable to make comments that were racist.
At ten years old at school I sat next to a lovely Indian girl whose name was Phyllis. One day when walking with my parents I met Phyllis and spoke to her. My dad asked afterwards who she was and I told him she was my friend, Phyllis. He replied,” You didn’t tell me she was coloured.” That thought had never occurred to me. To me she was a nice little girl that I liked a lot.
I am glad that it is no longer acceptable to make racist remarks, although in another sense perhaps like the rapper this has swung the other way. I remember reading of a senior nurse who was leading a training course for the NHS. When a number of participants hadn’t turned up after lunch she accidentally referred to it as being like the “Ten Little N…… Boys”, a play that had been performed for many years on the London stage. She was accused of being a racist and had to resign her post. Similarly, a vicar who wrote an article for his parish magazine was talking about it being winter and that there was, “a nip in the air.” He was accused locally of being a racist because they said that he was referring to Japanese soldiers who had been hung after the Second World War. I always thought that the expression related to, “Jack Frost nipping at my nose” as the song says.
I am glad that we belong to a church where racism is not a problem. It is good to see that we all come from various ethnic backgrounds and yet we are one family in Christ. That is because when God created us He made us all in His image, there is no difference between us. This is emphasised in Colossians 1:16. “In Him (Jesus) everything in heaven and on earth was created, not only things visible but also the invisible orders of thrones, sovereignties, authorities, and powers: the whole universe has been created through him and for him.”
When Jesus comes back again as He promised, I do not know whether our resurrected bodies will continue to show our ethnic backgrounds as they do here on earth. I hope so, because then I will be happy to see that the majority of my brothers and sisters who like me trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins will be of a different race from my own. Will it make a real difference? No. When we are shining with the glory that Jesus is going to give us in His new kingdom then, like me and my friend Phyllis, we shall not notice the difference.
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Contributed by Michael Goble; © Michael Goble