Below is the second part of a three part series. I encourage you to read the first post prior to continuing.

Now onto some examples…

An article published in 2016 showed the disparity and discrimination we see in our supposedly much enlightened marketplace here in America. Over 1,600 resumes were sent to employers in 16 metropolitan areas of the country—not way out in the sticks—the only difference in the resumes being evidence of ethnicity. Not surprisingly, there was a direct correlation between the number of callbacks and an applicant’s ethnicity as you can see in this graphic taken from the Harvard Business School’s “Minorities Who ‘Whiten’ Job Resumes Get More Interviews” article at https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/minorities-who-whiten-job-resumes-get-more-interviews:

Another example of the inequity by ethnicity in our society comes from a book written in 1997 titled “Poverty and Place.” The author illustrates that the ethnicity highest in number is also the lowest in poverty rate. Which ethnicity is this? That would be white. There has been a concerted effort to place poor people of color in concentrated areas geographically. Essentially, our nation has worked to group poor people of color together where there has not been a similar effort to group poor white people together.

These are just two examples of the how the inequity and the balance of power has been intentionally tilted in our society, but there are countless other ways this plays out over the course of our nation’s history. These ways are apparent to anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear.

So why are we even talking about this?? It’s for sure not because we thought it would be fun or just a good idea! And it’s not because we’ve become leftist, socialist, liberal, humanist activists, or whatever other label you might be tempted to apply. Instead, there’s another reason…

When you walk through disruption and discomfort, you find faith and freedom on the other side.

I’m sure you have experienced this in your life at some point. It may have been at work or it may have been with your health. No doubt there have been difficult moments in life that knocked you off course. And you now know that growth has occurred in those times of discomfort. They go hand in hand.

Whether it was something forced on you or something you chose…

you stuck with it…

you persevered…

you pushed through…

and you came out the other side with more. 

Many times, when a situation begins to feel uncomfortable, we want to say, “No, thanks!,” and run the other way. But when we choose to run, we also choose not to mature.

As I shared this message with the congregation of Multiply Church, I told them the real reason I am talking about this is because I love our community. I love the people who are Multiply Church too much to not talk about these issues.

The freedom we experience on the other side is from a bondage that many of us don’t even realize we’re in until we walk through the discomfort and the disruption.

So what does this have to do with the Gospel?

I’ll answer this question and make the connection in the final installment next week!