Will You Cross The Line?

Imagine a scenario in which four people were set up to play a game of Monopoly for the first time in their lives. They sat in chairs numbered 1 through 4. What they didn't know is that the game had been rigged. The person in the first chair began the game with all their money taken and distributed among the other three players. That means that the people in chairs 2, 3, and 4 would each start with $2000, rather than the normal starting amount of $1500. All players were then told that there would be one significant rule change: each time a player passed Go, they would receive the standard $200 only if they had a net worth of more than $1800. With that in place the game began.

How do you think the game would go? Chances are good that the person in chair #1 would struggle. Not only would they not have any money to purchase property or pay bills, they would find it incredibly difficult to amass enough wealth to start receiving the benefits of passing Go. If the same scenario were replayed 100 times, there would likely be 2 or 3 times where a person in chair #1 broke through the stacked deck and managed to do well, but most times that would not be the case.

Now imagine that in the middle of the game, each player was replaced by a new player who would sit in their chair and take over for them. The new players would know the rule about passing Go, but would be unaware that the starting money was taken from the player in chair #1. What would be the reaction? If you took over for chair #2 on four or five separate occasions, what would you think? Wouldn't you start to wonder what was wrong with the people who sat in chair #1? Why are they always so bad at this? Why were they so frustrated? You might even point out to the poor soul and chair #1 that you were all playing by the same rules, so they just need to work little harder or get better at the game. And while from one perspective, all the players are playing by the same rules, they really are not, are they?

This is an excerpt from the book, Crossing The Line: Culture, Race, and Kingdom, by Michael Burns. The title alludes to crossing the line between two opposing sides, as depicted here. (I personally suspect the actual cross of Christ may be word played a little as well.) It is a book written to educate and facilitate true dialogue about race and its impact on our culture and church. For the past few months, I have been able to lead our local small group's discussions as we read this book together.

And you know what? At about half way through, it is going REALLY well! This book is absolutely amazing. It is educational (the author used to be a history teacher!). It is challenging. And it is inspiring.

Please read it.

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

 - 1 John 4:20

Will you Cross the line?