Our world relies mostly on the external for interpretation, meaning and understanding.  We know what we see and we believe it when we see it.  We judge a person based on appearance; we look them over and surmise that we have them all figured out when all we have done is ascribe to them the meaning that we feel they deserve.  We give them the words that we have left and they usually are much and no better than we are.

It all comes down to appearance.   We can dress for success and it doesn’t matter what is really going on inside of us so long as we can “look the part.”  But, what part do we play with race and what role is race playing in our understanding of life, the way in which we view ourselves, our neighbor and our God?  And how can the external, the physical, the body, the flesh, the socially constructed (that is, race) give meaning to what is spiritual, to what is divine, to what is mysterious, to what is unseen, to what is hidden inside of us?

Does everything happen in your life for a reason and is that reason always race?  If you hold this to be true, then this meditation is for you.  You have so much faith in race; I want you to at least pretend that you can live without it, that there is something more to you than your external appearance, that Someone knows you better.

Say these words with me:

I am not who race says that I am; I am who God says that I am: a child of God not a color of race, a son/ a daughter of God not a socially colored skin.

I am always a human being not a racial being.  I can never be reduced to anything less– with or without my permission.

I am not a stereotype; I am a new creature in Christ Jesus, sacred and God’s beloved (Second Corinthians 5.17).

I am not what persons have done to me but my worth is proven by what God has done for me (cf. John 3.16; Romans 5.8)

I belong to God, a member of His royal priesthood and holy nation (First Peter 2.9).  I am not a member of a race; I am a member of the Body of Christ.

I am at home with God who made us all not with people who “look like me.”

God includes all of “us”; there is no “them.”  There is no fight within or without.

I am race-less.  Amen.