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Address: 3900-A Park Rd Charlotte, NC 28209
Phone: (704) 565-5455
Fax: (704) 565-5499
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Take advantage of sermon series to get out of spiritual box, Posted 1-31-2010

Take advantage of sermon series to get out of spiritual box

A chance to make Sunday a less segregated day in the Queen City.

Posted: Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010

From Dr. Maria Hanlin of Mecklenburg Ministries and Rabbi Judy Schindler of Temple Beth El, co-chairs of Xchange Sermons through Crossroads Charlotte:

Recently, as many of us celebrated a holiday in memory of the great Dr. Martin Luther King's life and dreams, another simple and remarkable soul who paved her own personal path through the world of uneasy race relations, left this world. Ruth McBride Jordan died on Jan. 9. As King dreamt of a country in which those of different races would come together as equals, Ruth McBride created that reality in her own home as she was a white mother who raised her own 12 children in a biracial family. Her eighth child, James McBride, captured the story of her life in his book, "The Color of Water."

James McBride had lots of questions as a child. When he would ask his mom what color she was, she would always respond that she was light skinned. When he asked her what color he was, his mom would say, "You are a human being and if you don't get educated, you'll be a nothing." When McBride asked his mom what color God was, she told him, "God is the color of water."

Like water, God is colorless. Like water, God reflects that color that is behind it or looking into it. Though God has no color, the hundreds of Charlotte congregations that worship the Divine see the Divine through different eyes.

It is commonly said that in our Queen City, Sunday is the most segregated day of the week. We pray with different words, sing different songs, and our clergy preach from different vantage points.

But our city doesn't have to be this way. Beginning with Martin Luther King weekend and extending through Black History month, more than 30 pastors, imams, rabbis and spiritual leaders are paving the way through pulpit exchanges in a series called Xchange Sermons. As they challenge themselves, they challenge our community to think differently, act differently and build relationships differently as citizens and congregations of our city.

For many of us, thinking outside the box does not come naturally. For most of us, worshiping outside of our spiritual boxes does not come comfortably. But when we do, we grow as individuals and become stronger as a city.

We invite you to celebrate Black History month, which begins this Monday, by getting out of the box - the spiritual box - in which you find yourself and taking part in one of the many sermon exchanges sponsored by Crossroads Charlotte and Mecklenburg Ministries. Come find a God who is the color of water ... reflecting a rainbow.

For the Record offers commentaries from various sources. The views are the writer's, and not necessarily those of the Observer editorial board.

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