Why we should sing, “They are yellow, black and white…”
It’s a song Christians learn as children. Its lyrics are simple yet profound. “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. They are yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
Did the 18-year-old white gunman who opened fire in a grocery store in a predominately black neighborhood in Buffalo, NY, this past Saturday afternoon know this song?
Maybe.
But I don’t think so.
I get it. The lyrics are simple. They are also profound. More so, they are memorable.
But most of all, they are true.
I am saying in an age of violence that yes, we need this song. In an era when church closings are now a norm, this song—or the absence of this song being taught—is an answer to the question, “Well, what are we going to do about all this crime?”
I get it. Church isn’t perfect. Whoa, understatement. Church really is NOT perfect. Find fault with the institution until tomorrow and you’ll succeed, but look at today. The moral decay in our nation is apparent.
And what can we do?
Mayors in major cities want to throw big money at programming that teaches moral ethics.
This is a response. Some of you agree with this. Others of you have different opinions.
I say start singing.
I don’t mean sing just the song I’ve mentioned, though we should. I mean sing, listen to, embrace and embed the Christian theology of Jesus’ radical inclusion that is taught in Sunday school and Christian Education.
And then share it.
Where are you going to sing—and share—these healing messages?
Well, everywhere.
But where are you going to really resonate with this peaceful, love-forward message?
There’s only one place.
And you know where I’m going.
To church.
Yes, I’m back to church because I invite our nation back to religion, faith, and teaching that understands that we do hurt but can heal from it.
We can’t heal ourselves. We are too messy. But we can turn to, learn from, and follow the One who does heal.
What is striking about the ministry of Jesus Christ is His radical inclusion. He came from a nowhere town—Nazareth—and stood up for the marginalized in all arenas at all times. There is no “other” in Jesus’ message. He preached that separation then, like now, is an enemy.
The apostles carried this message. Galatians 3:28 reminds us that there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female. We are all one in Christ Jesus.
We are all one.
Is religion a remedy for what ails America today? Yes.
Oh, I hear some of you. This Bible-thumping, Jesus-pushing pastor and columnist is advocating for a way of life that just doesn’t work because Christianity is flawed.
Christianity isn’t flawed. The people who practice it are.
Should we continue to disband and discredit Christianity?
I say no. I say we teach love not in some abstract, maybe-someday-we’ll-get-it-right humanist sense. I say we come to places (I mean church) where Jesus’ sin-to-salvation love is not just taught, it is sung. It is sung not just in sanctuaries. No, it is sung and shared in the very streets, homes and hearts where hatred begins.
19th Century
They are red and yellow, black and white…
21st Century.
“Ev’ry colour, ev’ry race, all are cover’d by His grace”
When we see nothing more than color, we are truly blind to everything else.