Maidenhead United Reformed Church

I have been more inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the poverty of Africa and the prophetic voices from black men and women than I have from the prosperity of the western church pulpits. It is interesting that the evangelical and Pentecostal African fellowships seem to be the ones that are growing in this country while the traditional white majority church seems to be in decline. We need to hear the prophetic message that they bring but I fear we believe that “nothing much good comes from there!” Well, if we don’t believe it, we behave as if we do!
Sometimes our careless words will reveal how we really feel and it can be so painful when someone thought you were a friend who respected and understood them. Two people, one black and one white, were
 visiting a white member of church on a hospital ward recently when the patient whispered to the white visitor: “Do you know, everyone is black on this ward!”
Well, what a privilege to be among so many beautiful black people! Unfortunately, that was not what the patient meant and it hurt the black visitor who had always been so good to her white friend.
Many of us can claim to have lots of friends and not notice that they are black, but we really do need to mind our language if we don’t want to cause offence or fuel the fires of racism. If we want to put the flames out we most notice that some of our best friends ARE black with a heart like ours and blood which is the same colour.
Our careless use of language suggests we still have some work to do in addressing racism and the football pitch is a good place to kick it into touch!
God Bless (Richard Becher)
January 2012