It’s been a challenging week for me. Or maybe, it’s been a week of being challenged is more accurate. How can I be a real ally to the people around me? How can I bring hope and encouragement? How can I do more than just lip-service to a movement that is so important for the future like “Black Lives Matter”?
I saw a story going round on social media of an oboist at a conservatoire who had shared the struggles they had faced to get to where they are today, and the struggles they still go through. Things like not being treated equally in lessons, not getting the same opportunities, being targeted because of the colour of their skin. Oh, but also being wheeled out for ‘diversity’ photo shoots. It pulled me up short. I’ve done studies on gender and orchestras, but it never occurred to me to look at race and orchestras. And that’s the poison we face. We don’t acknowledge it. We don’t recognise it. We don’t see the part we play in it.
So what can we do? I believe humans were created with 2 great gifts; the ability to love and the ability to learn. And that’s where my seed of hope for this week comes in. The society that Jesus lived in is very different from the society we live in now. Slaves were considered normal, fighting to the death was a sport, and women had no (or very little) status. We now live in the 21st Century. Fighting to the death is illegal in most parts of the world. Slavery hasn’t been completely eradicated, but it is no longer considered normal and there are charities and laws working to protect people. And women can work, vote, own property and have some semblance of equality. None of it is perfect, there is more to be done in each of these areas. But through human’s standing up for change, change happens.
But there’s more. Because when I look at the way that Jesus acts, I see more reason to hope. Because Jesus sees people. He doesn’t ignore their race/gender/class. He sees exactly who they are. And he helps them anyway. The Samaritan woman at the well? Jesus sees her. The slave of the Roman centurion? Jesus heals him. The blind beggar? Jesus gives him his sight. The gospels were written for a reason: they are there to teach. (Romans 15: 4 ‘For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope’) Jesus meets/eats with/heals/befriends a diverse bunch of people. And he encourages his followers to do the same.
They haven’t always got it right. But we have and I hope always will continue to learn, to grow and to strive to be better at following Jesus’ example. So if you’ve stumbled across this little blog on the internet and think I’ve got something wrong, I hope you can forgive me. Please, I want to learn so feel free to correct me. I want to love like Jesus loved – unconditionally. And it you’ve stumbled across this blog and are feeling like everyone is against you and you are being discriminated against, I believe there is a God who sees exactly who you are and loves you anyway. He is the God who created diversity, and we should celebrate it, not let it create divisions.
I’d like to leave you (if you’re still reading) with one more verse from the bible that I have found has helped me over the past couple of weeks: “There is neither Jew not Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3: 28)
The Reason for my Hope Blog 