Unbrotherhood
Theme of the Week: Restoring Relationships
Thursday, October 16, 2003
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Key Bible Verse: If someone says, "I love God" but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar (1 John 4:20). Bonus Reading:1 John 4:7-11, 21
At our Southern denominational college, I smiled at those who cleaned my room, tended the grounds, fed me, and did my laundry, but I didn't know their names. My classmates and I saw no contradictions between our Christian beliefs and our comfortable, segregated life.
My awakening began in a frat house when some of us proposed inviting a black student to pledge. We talked to other members; every voice was for him. But one black ball in the voting box, anonymously cast, could keep a person out. That happened.
My roommate spoke up. Instead of denouncing the silently prejudiced member, he focused on the inconsistency of a Christian "brotherhood" giving prejudice such power. He urged us, in Christ's name, to seek to change the unjust blackball tradition.
Our delegates to the fraternity's national convention sponsored a resolution to eliminate racially exclusive clauses. It didn't pass, but a later version did. On the student newspaper, we made racial clauses an issue, contributing to the trustees' decision to integrate the school. And a year after the first refusal, we welcomed our friend into the brotherhood.
—William Hagen in College Faith
My Response: What is an unjust system that I'm currently aware of?
Thought to Apply: Race prejudice … is a shadow over all of us, and the shadow is darkest over those who feel it least and allow its evil effects to go on.
—Pearl Buck
Adapted from College Faith: 150 Christian Leaders and Educators Share Faith Stories from Their Student Days (Andrews Univ. Press, 2002) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Dear God, since You love us all, help us to assure dignity for each person You have created.
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