We are in a time where your pictures speak before your mouth does. As I entered a Lutheran church Sunday, I was blown away by the gigantic moral of the 30 foot white Jesus on the back wall. This white Jesus spoke more to me than the very message that was preach. This white Jesus though pictured as welcoming was the most unfriendly sight that I have ever seen in a church. This white and manicured Jesus, I assumed, was supposedly the Jesus they thought gave his life as a ransom for me. This white Jesus with a triumphant smile and arms spread abroad signaling, “May the Lord be with you.”
The entire service all I could think about was the picture of this white Jesus.
Honestly, as a fellow ELCA candidate for pastoral ministry, I didn’t feel valued or respected. This picture did not encourage me to want to be in fellowship with this particular church. It made want to leave the ELCA in its entirety. The premise of a white Jesus has more negative implications than I have time or care to discuss. What I will say is that as a black male, the invention of a white Jesus is inconsistent with building multi-cultural churches…
Syncopated Hustle 