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The racial fault lines in America were brought into glaring focus with the not-guilty verdict in the O. J. Simpson murder trial and two weeks later during the "Million Man March" for black men in Washington.

For Christians working toward racial reconciliation, those fault lines are intimately familiar. "Sunday morning is still the most segregated time in America," says Chris Rice, co-editor of "Reconciliation Quarterly."

When the jury's verdict was announced that Simpson was not guilty of murdering his wife and her friend, whites and blacks had startlingly different reactions. Many blacks cheered, while many whites said a guilty man was being set free. The reactions to the verdict were no different among many Christian groups. National Council of Churches (NCC) General Secretary Joan Brown Campbell vividly remembers the responses among the members of the NCC staff the day the verdict was disclosed. At the moment the verdict was read, with few exceptions, "black staff cheered, some white women cried, and some white men said 'There is no justice.' "

She says the differences are due to a "cultural gap that exists despite the fact that the NCC has had a proracial-justice policy for over 50 years."

On October 16, when Louis Farrakhan rallied at least 400,000 black men in Washington, there were similarly divergent reactions. Although a significant number of black Christian leaders opposed the march, many black Christians participated.

In Boston, Eugene Rivers, a Pentecostal minister and head of the interracial Ten Point Coalition, said both the Simpson verdict and the Washington march reveal that the American people are descending into "a state of psychological apartheid."

Rivers, whose father worked with both Elijah Mohammad and Malcolm X, said, "The ascension of Farrakhan as a pivotal figure in the black community is a result of the failure of the black church to develop a coordinated program of evangelism and rehabilitation for black males."

Outspoken opposition to Farrakhan was frequent among white Christian leaders. Pat Robertson, the leading religious broadcaster, commented, "We want to see the black males and females in America march for justice and participate in the public process, but the leader should not be Louis Farrakhan. He is a monger of hate."

UNITY IN WORSHIP: Even though interracial tensions are evident nationally, there are churches successfully bridging the divide. On a recent October Sunday morning at Second Canaan Baptist Church in New York City's Harlem, a visiting white opera singer walked up front to perform. The singer said he had a plane to catch, but wanted to sing a song, "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah," before he left. Starting slowly and softly, he began to sing and was soon joined by the black choir. Then, row by row, the congregation joined in. By the end, all were standing, clapping and singing.

Afterwards, Second Canaan Baptist's pastor, Henry Davis III, commented, "When he sang, there were not many dry eyes. His impact had nothing to do with his color." Later that week at the Wednesday noon prayer meeting, Second Canaan Baptist members reflected on the state of relations between black and white. "Churches are more segregated than they should be," says Pernell Lewis, who has attended Second Canaan Baptist for more than 30 years.

Davis believes "worship is an excellent place to start." In his former church in New Jersey, he was regularly invited to preach in predominantly white churches. "They told me, 'When you come to us, be yourself. Bring your traditions.' "

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November 13 1995, Vol. 39, No. 13