Grace Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey

Menu for This Section

• Pastor's Pulse
• View from the Loft

Pastor's Pulse

by Paul Leggett, Pastor

A Defining Step Toward Racial Justice

February 2009

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24

I am writing this on the weekend of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. I, along with many others, am struck this year by the fact that the celebration of Dr. King’s birth is on the day before the inauguration of the first African-American President in American history. All of us are shaped by the events in which we live. The assassination of Dr. King was one of the five or six most significant events I remember in my life. I was in college at the time. I had been studying for a test but when the news came I was unable to concentrate on my studies. I went out and spent the rest of the evening talking with a friend. We were both stunned by the news. It had been less than five years since President Kennedy had been shot. In those days Syracuse University was surrounded on several sides by African-American neighborhoods. During that evening we heard shots. We saw fires erupt. Throughout the 1960’s a number of predominantly African-American urban centers had experienced riots and burnings beginning with Watts in Los Angeles in 1965 and including Newark the summer before King’s death.

The death of Martin Luther King Jr. was a low point not only in the Civil Rights movement but in American history in general. Speaking of when he heard of Dr. King’s death, Billy Graham wrote, “Not only was I losing a friend through a vicious and senseless killing, but America was losing a social leader and a prophet, and I felt his death would be one of the greatest tragedies in our history.”  At the time of this great tragedy the thought that an African-American would one day be President was unthinkable. Yet here in 2009, only a little more than forty years after King’s death, we are witnessing the swearing in of Senator Barak Obama as our first African-American President. The invocation is being given by the prominent evangelical pastor and author, the Rev. Rick Warren.

Forty years seems too long to wait in some respects but, at the same time, it represents enormous change in what the Bible frequently refers to as a “generation.” The election of an African-American President is a major step.  It does not mean that the problem of racism in America is solved, nor does it indicate that America is necessarily healthier, morally and spiritually, than it was earlier.  Nonetheless it is a very significant step.  Whatever our political viewpoints, Obama’s election represents a defining step in America’s long and painful journey toward racial justice. The apostle Paul struggled with racial and ethnic prejudice throughout his ministry.  In his case this was the negative view of Gentile Christians by Jewish Christians.  As we are seeing in our current study in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, this at times led Paul into conflict with key leaders of the early church in Jerusalem including Peter, James and John (Galatians 2:1-14). 

The root of “justification,” of course, is “justice.”  Jesus calls us to “judge with right judgment” (John 7:24).  Scripture makes plain that worshipping and serving God includes pursuing justice in all our relationships (Isaiah 1:12-17; Jeremiah 22:13-16).  “God shows no partiality” (Galatians 2:6).  We who share Dr. King’s faith in Christ need to be encouraged that change is possible both for ourselves and our society. We need also to remember that following Christ is costly.