Colorblind But Not Colorless – BEYOND Racism to Gracism
The church of Jesus Christ has been hiding behind
Our stained-glass ways for too long.
Stained-glasses taint the color of the light
So you can’t really see what’s wrong … and what’s right.
It’s time to go BEYOND …
BEYOND the tinted windows
Of our comfort zones
Into the full spectrum of what God wants
For His church, and our homes.
Imagine a church that looks like God:
Colorblind but not colorless.
Where the rest of the world can actually see
Themselves in it
‘Cause our faith looks real and not counterfeit
Imagine my transparency impacting another life
‘Cause they relate to the complexion of my heart
Not my shade of black or white
Because pain can minister to pain
Hurt can relate to hurt, and love – well…
Love doesn’t distinguish the hue of a man
‘Cause pure love itself is beyond hu-man
Imagine a movement of Christ’s own people
Projecting respect and love out beyond the steeple
Extending a hand to mentor the man next to you and vice versa
Moving America BEYOND this spiritual inertia
Imagine if in my heart I would nurture
This radical view of God’s preferred future
Where we love the same world Jesus died to save
According to grace and the Gift that He gave
A people with no partiality to race
A church any and every non-believer could embrace
‘Cause when they see us, they each see a face…that looks like them.
“It might not work!”
Well Jesus didn’t make excuses so don’t hand me that
A church without diversity is a Body that’s handicapped
If we truly want change
We have to be changed and not just react to the change
That’s already in action
When the church is afraid of the change it’s supposed to make happen
Then the world becomes a greater attraction
‘Cause it’s making change along color lines
Just without the moral attachment
In the pews and in the pulpit
Satan has made diversity look like the culprit
But this dream doesn’t belong to the culture
No, this is OUR dream,
So let’s play as ONE TEAM:
To overcome the racism
To stop with the “in your face-ism”
And the “let’s keep to our own space-ism”
And instead be all about Gracism
It’s time to go BEYOND where we’ve been
Even if it means we need to confess our sin
Let’s go beyond worship with those who only look like “us”
Because the heart of God says that we must
Go beyond Sunday morning as a family reunion
Because whether we like it or not
God says … “Guess who’s comin’ to dinner!”
Imagine a family of Jesus’ followers
Where everyone was included and everyone mattered
We gotta believe the dividing wall can be shattered!
Imagine this church as a bridge across the divide
With the doors truly open wide
Where all of God’s people are on the same side
So let’s come together, my sisters and brothers
And prove to ourselves – and all the others
What it looks like to live out the dream…
The dream that began long before Dr. King
The dream that comes from the King of Kings
The dream of which the Bible sings…
The dream that says we will act like God’s children
And serve Jesus TOGETHER – like we will in heaven.
Adapted from Phillip Allen, Jr. “Colorblind But Not Colorless” -- Copyright © 2008
Ben Cachiaras, MOUNTAIN CHRISTIAN CHURCH