Perchance to Dream

This is the email that I addressed to Richard Roeper and Mary Mitchell, two columnists for the Chicago Sun-Times, who today addressed race, hope, and Obama in two telling columns that portray a nation divided:

Dear Mary and Richard,

Thank you for your respective articles in Thursday's Chicago Sun-Times. I was really encouraged by Richard's column on vision, dreams and the importance of Mr. Obama's oratory of hope. It amazes me that many people in our nation have forgotten how to dream. It was America's dream to rocket into space. It happened. I know that it is not that simple, and in fact many of the dreams of those who have traditionally been marginalized and minimalized have yet to come to fruition: dreams of access to quality health care, quality education, and quality employment; dreams of safety and peace in down-trodden communities entrenched with violence, blight, and drugs; dreams of financial peace and reconciliation for families who have experienced varied forms of brokenness; and dreams of equal justice under the law. Vision without mission, however, is only a pipe dream. Hence, we the people "who are darker than blue" (not just black folk) need to covenant with each other and collaboratively ensure that the hopes and dreams of countless numbers of gentrified and disenfranchised Americans can become a reality.

I grew up, Mary, in a black Baptist church in Detroit. It was under the leadership of Dr. Frederick G. Sampson at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church that I learned about the human struggles that were important to the black community. It was here that we missioned together to address these struggles with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As I've written elsewhere "The same biblical truth that formed the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement, is the same biblical truth that felled the walls of Jericho." It saddens me that the rhetoric and deep emotion of the collective hurt of the black community has now been used to divide the nation even further in a presidential race that becomes more polarized every day.

In many ways it has been the local, visible, and vocal churches of the urban center, like Armitage Baptist Church where my wife and I serve here in Chicago, that have intentionally sought to address both the human struggle and mankind's need for a Savior; to become churches of such size and strength that we can impact the city of Chicago and the cities of the world. And yet the culture of religion is polarizing in this country. As we've heard even unto cliche, 11 o'clock on Sunday is the most segregated hour in America. I believe that along with being intentional, incarnational, and personal, the ministries of the church should seek to be cross-cultural (not assimilationist) as well as supernatural. Perhaps this can happen. Perchance to dream.

Sincerely,

Michael

Read their columns in the Chicago Sun-times here via the following links:

Wright caught in undeserved political glare by Mary Mitchell

What's wrong with a great speech anyway? by Richard Roeper

Living and Breathing Out Loud, and not Just Blowing Smoke

I am currently reading what I believe to be an awesome, "memoiresque" book written by Donald Miller called Blue Like Jazz. In the book, Miller shares his life experiences in his personal walk with Jesus Christ through writing that seems to be down to earth and genuine. As I am reading this book and identifying with many of his own experiences as a Christian, I am burdened with the question: how should my living out what I believe about Jesus really look like and am I passionately doing that? Here is an excerpt from the book that we should give thought to:

"A friend of mine, a young pastor who recently started a church, talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America - about the postmodern church. He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool Web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing" (111).

If we are personally living out loud what we believe about Jesus, living out loud biblical Christianity, then shouldn't the outflow of this Chrisitianiy impact our "broken" communities through the work of our local churches? What should this really look like?