Family and Faith Magazine August-September 2015 | Page 26

FAITH

OF BEING A BLACK CHRISTIAN
IN TODAY'S WORLD #Charleston
By Family and Faith Magazine, Editorial Director Shelly-Ann Harris

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s a Black Christian, the Charleston shooting raised many
issues in my heart about racism and faith in Christ in the
world as it is today. The shooting broke my heart, brought
me to tears, fired up indignation in my soul and eventually led
me to deep and desperate reflection. How could God allow this
to happen? And to His people in His house? As I peeled back
the layers of questions, a curious, deep-rooted dichotomy in my
perspective on persecution was revealed.
Somewhere, in the midst of my unvarnished reflection before
God, I began to realise that an attack on me because of my race
was somehow more personal to me than an attack on me because
of my faith, since a racist attack was largely about the centimetres
of melanin lining my skin, the kinks in my hair, my unique form,
the shape of my nose and an ideology anchored in the belief
that all of these things made me less human. That is personal.
The legacy of hundreds of years of institutional hatred, violence
and white supremacy makes the lived experience of racism
between countries and between 'neighbours' in small town
communities in the United States and elsewhere, personal.

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Still we expect God to deliver us from evil, as Jesus taught
us to ask in the Lord's Prayer. God is our saviour, protector,
provider, healer, defender and ܙ