Sugaree, thanks for mentioning this topic. Today we had a guest minister who worked with Martin Luther King for a few years before his death. Every Friday he skipped class and went to Birmingham, Alabama with Dr. King to share his message.

He is currently a minister in New York City and continues to share King's dream with passion. His sermon reminded me that in Christianity there are no barriers. God created all of us equal and until we treat everyone with respect we can't have peace. Even people within our own race. There are too many divisions. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why would we want everyone to be like us? What a boring world that would be. We need to embrace all of mankind.

This was our Affirmation of Faith which we recited after the sermon. It made me misty-eyed.

God has created the peoples of this earth
to be one universal family.

In his reconciling love,
God overcomes the barriers between sisters and brothers
and breaks down every form of discrimination
based on racial or ethnic difference,
real or imaginary.

The church is called to bring all people
to receive and uphold one another as persons
in all relationships of life:
in employment, housing, education,
leisure, marriage, family, church,
and the exercise of political rights.

Therefore, the church
labors for the abolition of all racial discrimination and ministers to those injured by it.

Congregations, individuals, or groups of Christians
who exclude, dominate, or patronize others,
however subtly,
resist the Spirit of God
and bring contempt on the faith which they profess.

From the Confession of 1967
Presbyterian Church (USA)

I was reminded that however subtle I am in finding fault with another person, I am disgracing the faith which I profess. If I am a walking commercial for Christianity, I need to continue to make changes in my life.