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www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09069<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09069

>Crossing boundaries

Nelson to APCE: PC(USA) must overcome race and class
divisions

>by Eva G. Stimson
>Special to Presbyterian News Service

SAN ANTONIO - "All around us are hurting people," worship
leader the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson told more than 1,000
people gathered here for the 2009 convention of the
Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE).

Yet barriers of race, class, upbringing and status "keep us
from being real with one another," he said. These barriers
prevent us from welcoming all people into the community of
faith.

Nelson, a third-generation Presbyterian minister, is
founder/pastor of Liberation Community Presbyterian Church,
which describes itself as "an African-centered congregation
committed to evangelizing the poor."

In a series of sermons Nelson challenged his mostly white
and middle-class listeners to "step out of their comfort
zones" and cross the barriers that are keeping
Presbyterians from becoming "a light to the nations."

He encouraged them to ask the poor and hurting people
around them, "What can I do for you?" This is the question
Jesus asked the blind man, Bartimaeus, in Mark 10:46-52.
And it's a "loaded question," Nelson said. Our orderly
worship may be disrupted. We may be asked for money, for a
ride somewhere, for healing.

But if Presbyterians truly want to be the church God
intends, we need to be realistic about what it means to be
in relationship with the poor, he continued. "The world is
hurting and in pain, and they really don't care about our
order. We want to tell them about The Book of Order, and
they want to know about the book of John, and the book of
Matthew," Nelson said.

If poor and hurting people are drawn to our churches, it's
not because they want to become moderator of presbytery or
serve on a committee, he explained. They want to see how
the gospel can transform their lives.

Nelson also raised pointed questions about the current
emphasis on "multiculturalism," which has become a buzzword
in mainline churches seeking to reverse years of declining
membership.

Yet even as churches are paying lip-service to
multiculturalism, he said, "I'm amazed at how we're cutting
our budgets for justice, advocacy for women, immigration.
These issues are pushed aside as if they don't have meaning
for the church anymore."

Nelson told of spending eight weeks in South Africa before
the end of apartheid, a visit that opened his eyes to the
deeper meaning of multiculturalism. He said he grew a giant
Afro before going, and expected to experience an immediate
sense of connection with his South African hosts. But he
couldn't speak any of their languages, and did not
understand their history or culture. He discovered that the
connection he sought "was beyond skin color and race - it
was about how we understand life."

"Multiculturalism at its core is about learning to
appreciate the culture and values that form us," he said.
And this may cause discomfort. It may require us to
reexamine some of our cherished beliefs and ways of doing
things.

Nelson cited the example of the Apostle Peter, in Acts
10:9-33, whose vision on a rooftop led ultimately to the
opening of the early church to Gentile believers. But as
the story opens, Nelson said, "Peter is struggling with
what it means to have lived all his life with a particular
understanding [that certain foods and groups of people are
"unclean"], and now there is a shift in understanding" - a
shift being urged on him by God.

Peter ended up going to visit the Gentile Cornelius "not
because he wanted to, but because God required it."

What would happen, Nelson wondered, if today's Christians
were to really consider what God requires? "Do we really
think about what God requires when we live lives of
affluence and don't care about the rest of the world?"

To become a multicultural church requires us to get beyond
superficial differences and "to learn from people who come
from all over the world," Nelson said.

"The only question is whether we'll have the courage to
step beyond the boundaries and hear their stories without
judging."

Eva G. Stimson is editor of Presbyterians Today magazine.

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