Color Blindness

Color Blindness

Malachi 2:10, 3:5; Acts 2:1-5

Text: "Have we all not one father?" 

A meditation delivered electronically by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer, June 21, 2020

Did you know that between 5 and 10% of the population exhibit some form of color blindness. By far the most common form is the inability to distinguish between certain shades of red and green, which affects about 8% of the male population and a smaller percentage of females.  We empathize with those affected by natural color blindness, which includes some members of this United Church.  And the rest of what I have to say today in no way is intended to diminish the discomfort of or offend those who have physical color blindness. 

But what I really want to talk about today is spiritual color blindness. Spiritual color blindness, I contend, is a good thing.  To be spiritually “color blind,” I propose, is to look at others in the world without seeing the color of their skin, without making distinctioins based on the color of their skin. 

In an article I read a few days ago, I think the author referred to this as “racial blindness.”  It is to see the human instead of the race, the person instead of the pigment.  It is, as Suzanne shared with the children a few Sundays ago, to appreciate the beauty and potential that lies inside a person and not judging on the basis of the outside cover (the skin), like we might base a book solely by its cover.

When it comes to the color of our skin, none of us had the luxury of choosing the skin color we wanted, did we?  None of us were consulted beforehand regarding the family we wanted to be born into, or what race or ethnic group or nationality we might prefer.  So why should I feel superior to anyone else because I happened to be born – apart from any decision on my part – in white skin? 

And from where did the belief originate to begin with that those of one skin tone are better or superior to those of another?  If the belief is founded on a short, obscure passage in the book of Genesis (chapter 9, if you want to look it up) where it is said that the descendants of Noah’s son Ham and grandson Canaan were cursed and would be a slave to their brothers, what a horrible travesty of justice has been done over the centuries in the name of religion!  Yet, this short passage, and maybe a few others like it, have been misused over the centuries to justify the biblical warrant for the subjugation of one race over another based on the color of their skin.

To draw upon the teaching of the Hebrew prophet Malachi, “Don't we all have the same father? Didn't the same God create us all?” (3:10).  If all peoples of the world owe their existence to the same Creator God, then how can one ethnic group feel superior to and have preeminence over another?  It has long baffled me as to how anyone who prays to God and claims to be spiritually-minded could think that God would favor one race or ethnicity over another. 

The Pentecost passage read from Acts speaks of “people who had come from every country in the world” (2:5), yet they were one in spirit, one in harmony.  Is that not the way it was meant to be?  Isn’t worshipping and living together in harmony the natural order of things, and racial divisions and racial violence an unnatural state of affairs?

Well, it is Father’s Day.  It seems to me that one important thing that fathers (that any parent, for that matter) can do for their children and grandchildren and to help change the world, is to teach them about and set an example of color or racial blindness.  To not only not judge others on the basis of their race or ethnicity, but to speak out on behalf of and to take practical steps to oppose inequalities and injustices based upon race.

But when it comes to our pre-conceptions, our subliminal opinions, and our daily actions in regards to those of other races and ethnicities, wouldn’t most of us have to admit that we are flawed and imperfect?  Can any of us honestly say that we have never passed judgment upon or that we have never made hurtful distinctions regarding another based upon the color of their skin?  Don’t all of us have room for improvement?

Recent events have been a sad reminder that the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is far from being realized when he said, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“Have we not all one father?” the Hebrew prophet Malachi questions us.  “Has not one God created us?  Why then are we faithless to one another?” (Malachi 2:10 ESV).  Such is a timely reminder for this Father’s Day.  Because, I would submit to you, being spiritually color blind or having racial blindness is a good thing; it is a condition to which all of us should aspire, and by so doing help heal the tumultuous world in which we now live.  May it be so.  Amen.