Read:
Isaiah 1:17

Over 20 yrs ago, I was in LA, in seminary, a white man in a diverse city around very few who looked like me. I was processing my own racism and what I had brought to it and it wasn’t long before passages like Matthew 25:45 and James 2:14-17 showed up and made me uncomfortable. You know what happens when we’re uncomfortable, we either flee or change.

Growing up, I had African American babysitters, who I loved and lived 2 doors up from me and diverse kids I played basketball and football with in my small predominantly-white town. But in LA, I was seeing racism lived out daily on the bus, in the street, at the store, in my building.  What does faith in action look like when you have no history or understanding of these people groups that live, speak, and act differently than you do? I immersed myself in it… and I made several mistakes. But I grew.

After seminary, I chose to stay in LA. I had the advantage of the naivety, availability, and excessive amount of free time that comes with being a young person. LA became my home, and I was living and working in the same neighborhood with people who didn’t have the same background. Their issues became my issues because they and I were now a “we.”

Question:
How “comfortable” does reading Isaiah 1:17 make you feel? What can you do to walk across the room or walk across the street and find commonality with individuals from other people groups? Who is one person the Lord may be laying on your heart to go deeper with, to put faith in action, and see into your neighbor’s worldview?

Ben Eash
director of communication