By Karen Lynn Woo
As a pastor, I get to regularly hear the testimonies of various individuals . . . how they came to be believers in Jesus Christ . . . what God has done for them . . . and, as in the case below, how God uses His children to make a difference in the lives of those He sets in their path.
6 years ago I had the good fortune to hear the testimony of a young African-American woman whose strong faith and Christ-like love changed the way her volleyball coach and members of her high school class viewed one who was different from them. Her story went something like this: She’d spent her elementary school years in the multi-cultural environment of Los Angeles, but after her mother died, her father decided to move the family to Georgia to be closer to the rest of the family. Since she really didn’t know the “Georgia” family she didn’t understand his decision, but as a young teen, she also didn’t have a choice.
Upon moving to Georgia, she was enrolled in a high school where racism was prevalent. The computer teacher had her sit in a corner and told her not to touch anything “because,” as he told her, “if you touch a computer no one else will touch it.” Her math teacher told her there was no point in her even opening a math book because there was no way she could do the problems. Instead, she told the girl she could record the grades of the other students in the grade book and be the one to erase the chalkboard. As it happened, coming from California where the students were ahead of the Georgia students in math, the girl did understand the math problems and scored A’s on all her exams. Nevertheless, the math teacher changed all her grades in her gradebook and recorded them as F’s. And, although the volleyball coach accepted her on the team because “he could see she had some skills,” some of her teammates refused to touch any ball she “set” to them, allowing the ball to fall to the floor rather than touch a ball which, they said, “had been touched by a nigger.”
In Matthew 5:38-39 and 5:43-44 Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you, ‘Do not resist an evildoer.’” . . . “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’ but I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’”
Over time, the Christ-like love demonstrated by the girl towards the other students and her teachers won over many of those formerly biased against her. The kids discovered she understood the math that they, themselves, did not and began asking her to tutor them . . . which she did. And she was such a great team player on the volleyball team she won her team members AND her coach over . . . receiving a standing ovation when her name was called as she was awarded the “Player of the Year” in her senior year.
She almost didn’t graduate because of the F’s she got in her math and computer classes, but after:
- the other kids wrote letters to the principal telling him what had taken place in those two classes,
- her father had a talk with the principal,
- the math teacher confessed that, although the girl had gotten all A’s on her exams, she had changed her scores to F’s in the gradebook, and
- the computer instructor admitted he would not allow her to touch a computer for fear the other kids wouldn’t touch the computer after she had used it,
she received her high school diploma after all. When I asked her how she was able to get through high school without being hurt, angry, or vengeful she said, “I don’t know. It never occurred to me to be mean to those who treated me badly. It just isn’t who I am.”
“It just isn’t who I am.” One young girl changed the way kids and adults in her high school viewed people of color simply by choosing the love of Christ over the hatred of the world. How much greater could the impact be in our neighborhoods, our communities, our nation, our world, if only we would all choose to give up words and actions of divisiveness, hatred, hurt, anger, and bias that divide our nation and have resulted in the following and more:
- Teen depression and suicide continue to be on the rise
- Technology has taken bullying to a whole new level
- Organizations, as well as individuals and families, have felt the need to install cameras inside and outside their buildings due to theft, burglaries, and other crimes.
- Mass murders and attempted mass murders have taken place in schools, religious structures, company work sites, health care buildings, and military bases
- Human trafficking and homelessness are on the rise
- Labeling has become a tool for division.
Jesus says in Mathew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
In this season of Lent and the coming season of Easter, let your light shine and your love for others be great.
Karen Lynn Woo is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).