by the Rev. Judith M. Cooke
Preached May 18, 2008, at the Unity Hill United Church of Christ, Trumbull, CT
Text: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
As some of you are aware, my three year old son, Jamie, has an ongoing love affair with Thomas the Train, so last year we took him to “A Day Out with Thomas” for a ride on a life-size Thomas the Train. When the time came to board, Jay, Jamie and I sat in the seats at the front where the benches face one another, so that we could all be together. After most people had boarded and the train was nearly full, a family of four got on, and they were having trouble finding places to sit. Those parents approached another family, which had a daughter and a son, each lying across two seats, each taking up twice their allotted space. When the parents trying to find seats asked this family if the kids would make room, the other parents answered, “No, they don’t like to share.” The first parents then asked other families who were spread out to make room so that their boys could find seats. People were not very cooperative, but finally, the boys were able to sit together although the parents were left standing. Figuring we could sit Jamie on our laps, I offered to trade seats so the four of them could sit together. As we changed places with the boys, Jay looked angrier and angrier and angrier. Just as I began worrying that I had organized a move he did not want, Jay said to me, “Did you notice that the only family that could not find seats is the only family that is Black?” And looking around, I saw that he was right.
Our denomination, the United Church of Christ, has encouraged pastors to preach today on issues of race and how the church can address racism. This endeavor began in response to the news playing those snippets and sound bytes of the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons, which sounded so inflammatory. Dr. Wright is the retired pastor of the largest UCC church in the nation, and he preached to a predominantly Black congregation, often about issues of race. Now, I am not going to go into the details of what Dr. Wright was actually saying in his sermons, nor am I going to speak about the sins of the news media who broadcast parts of his sermons out of context. Instead, I want to focus on the heart of the matter – namely, that racism has no valid place in God’s creation.
Our Old Testament reading this morning is the familiar story of creation from the book of Genesis. In six days, God spoke and created different aspects of this world. And after each hard days’ work calling forth the creation, “God saw that it was good.” This simple sentence – “And God saw that it was good” – is foundational in our beliefs. God created the world, the plants, the animals, the people, and saw that it is all good.
In the story of creation, we read that the world God made was entirely good.
It was not until later on that sin came into the world, and racism is one of the ugliest sins. I recently heard racism defined as prejudice plus power. Sometimes the sin of racism is obvious, like the Jim Crow laws which enforced segregation, or the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in which Black men were infected with syphilis and intentionally untreated so researchers could study the disease, or the time when no one would allow a black child to sit next to their white child on the Day Out with Thomas train. Other times, racism is subtle and sneaky and harder to name.
In 2007, our state of Connecticut was the second richest state in the nation. Yet, our urban areas are extremely poor. Did you know that the average per capita income in Bridgeport is $16,306, and in Hartford it is $13,428? Statistics show that these poverty stricken cities are largely made up of people of color, who are surrounded by wealthy white suburbia. And these urban areas which are home to many minorities are also the places where we put our municipal landfills and hazardous waste treatment, and where public schools receive the least funding. The Yankee Institute for Public Policy studies these disparities in our state in a document entitled “The Two Connecticuts.” Some people describe these inequalities as institutional racism, and others call it Connecticut’s apartheid.
For people of faith, this is intolerable. We are called to follow the example of Christ who did not cater to the privileged and the elite, but rather sided with the oppressed and the mistreated. And just as our denomination has long stood beside those who were not treated fairly, we are called to stand up for what is just, what is right, what is faithful.
Recognizing the need to address these issues, the United Church of Christ has invited us to join in sacred conversation on racism. Sacred conversations like this are never easy, and discussions on difficult topics are often tense. There was a wonderful typo recently in the clergy email forum. Pastors have been discussing via email how the church can address racism, and instead of typing “sacred conversations” as the subject, it read “scared conversations.” What an appropriate misprint! Racial injustice is indeed a scary topic, which many people are afraid to address.
Being a person of faith requires courage; the UCC statement of faith even speaks of “courage in the struggle for justice and peace.” And as followers of Christ, we are called to take the lead in the transformation of this world, so that once again God may gaze lovingly down on the entire world and say, “Ah yes! It’s all good!”
May God grant us the courage, the vision, and the faithfulness to help re-create this world according to God’s design. Amen.
