Jesus Now! God Is Up To Something BigSýnishorn

Hope for Reconciliation

Whenever I would come home from college on a break, I would drop off Ouida at our house and then visit “my parish.” I visited each home. God had put them there. They were His people, and I loved them in the name of Jesus.

That was when the church deacons pulled me aside and said, “Tom, we need to talk to you about your visitation.”

“Why?”

“You’re visiting black people.”

“Sure,” I said, “They’re no different from any of us. God created them. They’re part of His family.”

The deacons just looked at me until one of them said, “Well, this is a white church, and you can’t do this.”

That next Sunday I preached about love—the love of Jesus that embraces all people, all of God’s children. I made it clear that anyone coming into the sanctuary would not be stopped, but be welcomed.

After the service, I was standing at the front door greeting the people as they left. One deacon said to me, “I know what point you were trying to make, but I still love you anyway.” Yet, something else happened. I noticed that younger people seemed to appreciate the sermon. In fact, the younger the person the more he or she said, “The things you said about Jesus loving all people, regardless of race, are real. It’s what God says.”

That day, I began to see the differing perspectives of the older and younger generations. The former tended to have remote, insensitive, fearful hearts. Young people, on the other hand, were more open to following the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. How willing are we to do the same?

My hunger for personal revival and spiritual awakening across our land is as strong as my desire to be used in the reconciliation between all peoples. I wrote it down on a list, “The Fourteen Things I Hope to Accomplish Before I Die.” I have seen African-American and Asian pastors from Philadelphia confess to each other their racism and then break down weeping. I’ve seen pride broken, sins confessed, and lives restored in the most calloused hearts and in the most unlikely parts of the country. I believe these and other acts of reconciliation and healing are God’s notes on His list— to give us a peek at the present, unfolding revival.