Theme Discussion
Our Bible reading today is from the Book of Psalms (Psalm 51: 1-10). This psalm was written by ancient Israel’s famous King David after he had done something he knew in his heart was a very unfair and bad thing to do to one of his own faithful soldiers. The soldier had died because of David’s unfairness, and this psalm is a prayer to God in which David asks God for a new chance and for God’s help for David to be good and treat people fairly from then on.
Let’s just look at a couple of lines from this psalm. At the start, David asks God for mercy and forgiveness. In The Message translation of the Bible, the first two verses are:
Generous in love – God give grace! Huge in mercy – wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry.
He isn’t asking for God to put him in a bathtub, is he? He feels bad inside because of the wrong he has done, and he wants God to forgive him and make him feel like a good person again. That wouldn’t show on the outside, but it would make a difference to how David was on the inside and how he would treat people from then on. It would be a sort of inside cleaning. In the last verse of today’s reading, David asks God to:
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
What does it mean to have a “clean heart” and a “right spirit”? Doesn’t it mean to act in a kind and loving way toward everyone, and to treat them all fairly?
Today is Racial Justice Sunday at BCUC. What does it mean if we say that two people are from different races? Usually, we think of people with different skin colours and maybe some other differences in how they look, like their hair or eyes. If one has dark skin and hair and the other one has light skin and pale hair, we would probably say one is a black person and the other a white person. But how many races are there? Really, there is only one – the human race. Really, people don’t have black skin or white skin, but there are lots of different shades of skin colour, from very dark brown that is almost black to very light pink or peach that is almost white, and many shades of brown in between. The idea of race is really an idea that people invented, not God.
But over time, many people have gotten some ideas that people who don’t look like they do are not as good as they are, maybe not as smart or not as hard working or not as trustworthy as people who look the same as they look. These ideas are wrong. No one can tell how good or smart a person is by what colour their skin is, and we know that God loves us all the same even though we have many differences from each other. If we ask God to put a “clean heart” and a “right spirit” inside us, how will we treat people who look different from us? Is it fair to them if we treat them as if we don’t trust them or like them or we think they are not smart just because of the way they look? How would you feel if someone treated you that way because of just your skin colour?
Response Activity Idea
Exploring skin colours
If you have some watercolour or tempera paints that you can mix, try mixing different proportions of white, yellow, pink, red, and brown paint to get several different shades that look like they could be actual skin colours that people have. Do you know anyone who has actually got pure white skin? Probably not. How about pure black? Again, probably not. Can you figure out how to mix a colour that is a close match to your own skin?
If you don’t have paints to do that experiment with, choose several colours that could be human skin colours from a big box of crayons or pencil crayons or markers. Look at each of them closely and think about whether a real person could have skin that colour.
Print out one of the paper doll figures at the end of the text and fold the paper on the dotted line. Cut the figure out, cutting through both sides of the folded paper at once and making sure not to cut the hand and foot where it touches the fold, so that when you unfold the paper you have two figures that look like they are holding hands and have their foot touching. Like this, except they will be blank until you colour them your way:
Use a pencil or pencil crayon to draw in a face on the paper person on the right side, and the lines of the clothes. The left side is the back of the paper person, so don’t put a face there. Using the skin-coloured paints or crayons, colour in the face and skin, and use whatever colours you like for the clothes and hair. After you have drawn the back and front of the person on one side, turn it over to see the plain white side. Put a shiny bright heart on one side, and if you want, you can write the words from the psalm around or opposite the heart: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” You can make a few of these paper people if you want, either using the pattern or drawing your own on a plain piece of paper. Give each one a different skin tone, and give them all different hair styles and clothes. But put a shiny bright heart inside each one, like this, and fold it so the heart is on the inside:
Click this image to print BOTH figures (PDF)
Illustrated Ministry Lenten Package
This week’s activity reminds us that the kingdom of God is like finding a treasure so valuable that a person is willing to give up all their possessions or other treasures to obtain it.
Think about what a racially just society would be like and what we would have to let go of to have it. On page 41 there is a paragraph about social justice movements around the world and how hard people have worked to change their world in different countries. In what ways is our society today unjust? What needs to change to create a racially just society today? Make a list of the ways that we would all benefit from a racially just society. Make a list of what we would have to give up to make those things happen. Would a racially just society be more like the kingdom of God as we imagine it? What would you be willing to give up or risk to make it a reality?