HARD QUESTIONS

Children’s Sunday

Rochelle A. Stackhouse

Something surprising happened as Sue was putting together this service. She had in mind a nice service focused on the beauty of creation. But the children kept coming back to some hard questions raised for them by these scriptures and wanting to talk about them. So, wisely, she let them do so. And I’m glad she did.

Today in churches across the UCC, many people are taking on some hard questions that have to do with issues of race in America. Our children here know what we often forget, that if you don’t deal with the hard questions, they don’t just go away. If you talk about them and get them out, then the possibilities bloom for insight and understanding which can transform us like these caterpillars transform into butterflies. Questions need to be asked like what is life really like for people of different races in this country? What does it mean to be racist? Is there such a thing as “white privilege” and how do we experience it? How do we deal with a history that includes many Christians encouraging and cooperating with the worst abuses of people of African, Asian, Jewish, Arab and Muslim heritage? How can we move beyond that history today?

Though we have not had that conversation here this morning, we have had it more than once in the past. The staff and lay leaders of this church have a commitment to continuing that conversation in the future. In the meantime, I urge us all to take our children’s example to heart and raise difficult questions with one another, not with our defenses up or our arguments ready or our anger on the table, but with a genuine desire to connect more deeply with one another and with people at our jobs, schools, neighborhoods, in our families, and in our local, state and national leadership who have many opinions on these issues. We can hold helpful seminars and discussions here, but the most helpful thing may be for each of us to have the courage to approach someone with different ideas, experiences, or opinions on these matters and talk one on one not to convince or criticize, but to understand. No matter what happens with the presidential election, the issues around race will not fade away because we hope they do. Let us take courage from our children and talk about the hard questions.