By Roger Barbee

This morning before the early church service began, another member was telling me about his years of playing college football before joining the Army, then continuing his education after the Korean War. Another fellow joined the conversation, and I, the youngest of the group at 73, commented how today’s antics of many athletes irritated me, and the football player said, “I never had to play with ‘em, so it wasn’t a problem in my day. If we’d acted that way our  coaches would have gotten on us.” The other man then shared how he had been a teacher and coach until he saw that the looming integration of our schools would not work, so he quit education and went into another profession. I said that the problem was not one of race, and integration was not the issue. With that, the service began, and we chose our seats.

 I have had many individual conversations with both men at church, and I have always been impressed by their manners and pleasant personalities. But they are racist members of my church. Their comments prove it. Later when I shared the conversation with my Sunday School class, which expressed disagreement with the racist comments, a member reminded me that church is a place for sinners, so I should not be as upset by the conversation as I was.  But I am upset and here is why.

I doubt that either man would publicly take the Lord’s name in vain in church in a conversation. In fact, I doubt that either would break that Commandment in private. I also think that both follow other Commandments and beliefs of Christ because they see themselves as good Christians, or at least as individuals who try to be Christ followers. And I doubt that either would see his words as violating any tenet of Christianity. But their belief concerning integration and blacks as expressed in their words, casually spoken to me in church, demonstrate a deep-seated and denied racism which goes against all that the Bible teaches because their words express a vile feeling against fellow creations of God. Both men, and others in our church and the world, need to, in the words of Dr. Clarence Jordan, “… choose whether you are going to look upon things through the eyes of Christ or the eyes of the world.”

When the new Apostle Philip goes to tell Nathanael, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael responds, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” To that racist remark, Philip gives what I think is a perfect response: “Come and see.” What a fine response to a mean question. No attacking or preaching, just an invitation, just like the invitation each of us is given. “Come and see” and be changed. See all people through “the eyes of Christ.”