This writing was inspired by a video that is going around the internet. In the video a Pastor is washing the feet of a young African American male. That act of foot washing symbolizes humility. The feet are considered the filthiest part of the body. They are also at the lowest portion of the body. In order to touch someone’s feet, you must kneel before them.
For Jesus, it was the display of His humility and His servanthood. For the disciples, the washing of their feet was in direct contrast to their heart attitudes at that time. For us, washing feet is symbolic of our role in the body of Christ, which is servitude. We are all servants. It doesn’t matter your position, title, or race in the Body of Christ, we are ALL called to be servants.
Growing up in the church has afforded me many opportunities to wash someone’s feet. As I did it, I was taught to pray for the person. Pray God’s blessings upon them, pray for God’s AGAPE (unconditional love) to fill them and to flow out of them and to pray that they would always be a blessing to those in need. I loved this act of humility and still love it to this day.
John 13:14–17 (NKJV), If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
One race is nor superior to another race. As an African American woman, I am just as valuable to you as you are to me. Society does not teach you that and history has not taught you that, but God accepts me just as I am. HE does not compare me to you and you to me. He says that I AM fearfully and wonderfully made. HE took great thought into creating Debbie to be exactly who she is.
In order to “MAKE AMERICA GREAT again” we must begin to Agape (unconditional love) one another the way GOD does. We must begin to see every race as GOD does. We must acknowledge that we can never make something “great” again that was never “great” to begin with.
If we are going to “MAKE AMERICA GREAT again” then we must dissect that slogan through the eyes of Jesus and not through the eyes of one race. We must understand that slogan through the eyes/lense/vision of every race. What does that “slogan” mean to the African, Native, Mexican, Latino, Chinese, Japanese, Hindu, European, all races.
Even the Bible speaks of division. Mark 3:24-26 King James Version (KJV)
24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
Mark 3:24-26 Living Bible (TLB)
24 A kingdom divided against itself will collapse. 25 A home filled with strife and division destroys itself. 26 And if Satan is fighting against himself, how can he accomplish anything? He would never survive.
Mark 3:24-26 Amplified Bible (AMP)
24 If a kingdom is divided [split into factions and rebelling] against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
The scriptures above states that a “house”, the White House, the School House, the Church House, your House, your parent’s House, your work House, any house divided against itself cannot stand. What causes a house to break down from the inside out? I’m so glad you asked. Let’s use a family home (house) as an example. In the home lives a Parent(s), the child(ren) and the pet. The father comes home from a bad day at work and takes his frustrations out on the mother who had a bad day at home with the kids who had a bad day because they were busy being children (fighting, squabbling, ignoring one another, etc.) and the poor dog gets tossed out the house by the children because it’s their responsibility to walk the dog (poor dog).
The father has walked into the house and caused a ripple effect and this happens on a daily basis. Monday he comes in and lashes out at the Mother. The mother in turn tries to keep the kids quiet so they won’t disturb the father. The kids start to blame one another more and more, trying to shift blame on one another about who started the fight. No one in the house sees how the division began. They don’t recognize or understand cause and effect or the “root” cause. The entire family does not know that the foundation in which the house was built upon was built with illnesses in the foundation and those illnesses would one day cause the house to become divided and eventually crumble and fall. The father and mother have secrets and the secrets are embedded in the foundation.
The foundation is built and established by the builder(s) of the house.
So, the slogan “Make America Great again” is implying that it was once great. I beg to differ. America was never “great” simply because it was built on the backs of deception, wars, thievery, stealing, killing, massacres, hatred, division, conquering. If all of these things are embedded in any foundation, how can you make a statement like, “Make America Great again”? The statement implies that there were certain things that made America great. What exactly would you say those things are? Are you seeing those things through the eyes of one race or ALL races? I am an African American woman first, so I look at America through those eyes. The eyes that witnessed my mother that raised seven children on the South side of Chicago, Illinois, a mother that walked to work when transportation was not available to her, a mother that made sure seven children were fed and clothed on a salary well below minimum wage. A strong mother, who at the age of twelve, witnessed her mother pass away and assisted with the upbringing of her siblings. A strong mother that was accused of embezzling monies from her job. She went through an investigation and lie detector test and the authorities and town manager found nothing. No evidence of stolen or misplaced monies. You see, she was promoted to one of the highest positions in this white ran and owned town and had to suffer many false accusations because, the town manager that replaced the person that hired her, didn’t deem her worthy of having this position because of the color of her skin. Not because she couldn’t do the job, but simply because of the color of her skin. My mother was a strong African American woman. She went on to retire from that position.
I’m sure she witnessed so much growing up in American in the 1940’s and 50’s and 60’s and 70’s and 80’s. So looking at America through the eyes of a minority at the things that made America great is hard to see through the eyes of the person that coined the phrase. The deception, wars, thievery, stealing, killing, massacres, hatred, division and conquering is what made America Great in their eyes. If that is what it takes to “Make America Great again” then I choose not to be a part of your great America.
There has long been an illness in society that was built into the foundation of these UNITED States of American. Unless the foundation of any building is built to the exact specifications of the building being erected, it will crumble. All the right ingredients must be used in order to withstand the strength of the building being built. The foundation must be stronger than the building, but the foundation is not seen with the naked eye. But it’s there!
The only House that should be able to withstand the messed up foundation of these UNITED States of American is the KINGDOM OF GOD, but and however, there is more division and other illnesses within the Body of Christ that is causing it to crumble as well.
I’ve heard over and over “Sunday morning is the most segregated day in all of America.” In the eyes of many that is a true statement. But what are we doing to conquer the segregated Sunday mornings? Because “Make America Great again” is being seen through the eyes of one race and all the other races are rising up and saying, “WE Matter too.” We are not the majority, but we matter. WE don’t look like you, but we bleed like you. WE don’t talk like you, but WE walk like you. WE don’t see America through your crystal-clear eyes, we see it through the illnesses that you’ve built into the foundation. Jesus has created a place where race doesn’t matter, but we continue to try and force race into HIS plan.
We have become a nation where GOD is no longer ruling over us and that’s why we are so angry at one another, fighting with one another and dividing one another, trying to conquer over one another, segregating one another and killing one another. The fighting, hatred, killing, dividing, conquering, thievery, massacres, division and segregating are happening within every race, each family and each church body. But if you want to take the light off of the real issues, let’s focus on something else. Let’s blow up one race to make it appear that these illnesses are confined to one race.
You see, these illnesses do not discriminate. They’re in all races. They don’t consume one race, they consume them all. They are just not magnified at the height and rate that they are in the African American race.
The government can not heal this nation, they don’t have a clue as to how. To heal this land, to “Make America Great” every individual person must begin to see that statement through the eyes/lense/sight of EVERY race.
Jesus didn’t do anything to be beaten and hung on the cross, He took responsibility for us. He stood in our place. He was wounded for OUR transgressions, He was bruised for OUR iniquities, the chastisement of OUR peace was upon Him and because of His stripes WE are healed. Healed as an individual, as a family, healed as a body and healed as a nation.
Through the eyes of a 58 years old woman, the slogan “Make America Great again” has caused even more division in these United States of America. Divide and conquer is the policy of maintaining control over one’s subordinates or subjects by encouraging dissent between them. The opposite of divide and conquer is “unite and build.”
I am choosing to Unite and build an even greater America by seeing you as Christ sees you.