More From Jon C. Goeringer

I was a teenager loading turkeys in the 1950s, when I witnessed discrimination against my colleague. Soon after that I joined the United States Air Force and served with all kinds of people. I was a lot like Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (NRSV). While in the military, I began in basic training. I had an African American man get right up in my face with his hat brim touching my forehead, screaming at me and calling me names. The color of his skin did not affect me, but the sergeant stripes on his shirt sleeve did. They let me know he was my superior. The military took a lot of that out of me, but I think just growing up did more. I also served with people of color on crash fire trucks in live fires, watching out for each other’s backs.

Years later I went into the ministry and seminary and had another bad experience with discrimination. I was serving a church in the Florida Panhandle. We had a program where we picked up all kinds of children and their parents, one day a week. We had worship, teaching classes, and a big dinner with all the adults and children before we took them home. I was the minister of that church, and I overheard a white man say to a white woman who was poor and who worked with us, “What are you doing in here, you know you don’t belong here.” It terrified her, and I thought about the black man that I worked with years ago who was told he would have to eat in the back room.

Will we ever grow up, or will we always think like children, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians? I have found that the church can love that hate right out of a person. Discrimination against any human being is evil and does not serve God who gives all life. We are all God’s children, regardless of whether we view a person’s race, gender, or even sexual orientation as if it does not meet our approval. All my 40 years as a minister and member of the church have taught me to love all kinds of people, whatever their race, color, or culture. In fact I have found that if we take time to know others, we often find it easy to love them. I challenge you to read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and to ponder this chapter of love.

Love, Jon Goeringer.