I'm an imperfect servant of the Creator, Ruler and Judge of the universe, and I'm trying not to embarrass Him. Maybe, just maybe I can add to our in house conversation about who we are and how we should function as Christians.

We are saved sinners, and we should be Christlike.
And we have different ideas about how that should play out.

In the U.S., we have divisions within the household of faith; pick your demographic criteria and you're likely to find divisions. I tend to start with racial divisions, because for so many of my brothers and sisters it's such a dominant part of daily life.

I'm a white male in his late 50s, who's been asked to help with a church plant that's consciously interracial, and dominantly black. And although I have a lot to learn, I've absorbed a fair amount of information so far - and we'll see whether I've processed it cogently!

I'm reluctant to start, since my own tribe, after centuries of getting it wrong, has made slow, halting and fragile progress - and the last thing I want to do is reverse the steps we've all taken forward. But SOMEBODY had better be talking, hosting, facilitating some discussion, and now's a good time.

The U.S. is in the middle of a tight and passionate election season - and race is a bigger issue than ever. My pastor has observed that, perversely enough, after events that force Americans to think about racial issues, black and white Evangelical Christians often wind up farther apart after the discussions than they'd been before.

We're all imperfect servants of our Savior and Lord. It seems consistent with Scripture for the servants not to have unequal shares of the meals (Yup, allusions and metaphors!) And, in this earthly country, the imperfect servants from my earthly tribe have gotten first dibs on appetizers, main courses AND desserts for centuries. (Nope, not as bad as it used to be, but that's not the New Testament standard, is it?)

So, have I seen this at all correctly? And if so, do we deal with it? And if so, how?

I'd love to hear from my brothers and sisters.

(And - blogger's prerogative - I hope to hear the phrase "respectfully disagree" from time to time. Go check Colossians 4:6 - there's no "internet exception" to the Scriptural admonition about speech being "seasoned with salt".)

Imperfect Servant schoolmarm still would love to hear from folks!

I.S.