Brothers and Sisters in the Faith
Bev Sedlacek

A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for September 4–10, 2004

When we moved to California from Ohio via Montana we had no idea what God had in store for us as a family or for our ministry to hurting people. We began attending a predominantly white church that was warm and friendly to all who came through the church doors. As an African-American, I had long considered myself a conservative Seventh-day Adventist and wanted to maintain my high standards even in "do what you want to do" California.

After several months in the church, I was approached by a very friendly woman newly elected to Sabbath School superintendent who asked me to work with her on Sabbath School programming for the next two years. She briefly shared that she was looking to do something innovative and thought I would be a good fit for the committee. I reluctantly agreed and mentioned to my husband that I would at least come to check out what was going on and pull out if things got to be too liberal and uncomfortable for me.

We met a couple times a month, initially brainstorming about possible programming. However, we would somehow move to discussions regarding the latest happenings in the world, the world church, and the local church, and how we felt about these issues. We frequently shared our own convictions and where we saw God at work in the affairs of humans. I found myself drawn to the committee members especially Bonnie, the superintendent.

What was striking about the interactions and the friendships that quickly grew with the committee members is that my self-assessment as a conservative was quickly being eroded. I found that these liberal committee members had more in common with me than I ever saw. Underneath the labels that I had placed upon them I began to see these precious people as more like me than I ever thought. These "worldly" liberal Adventists, I quickly discovered, loved Jesus as I did and sought to line their lives up with his, just like me.

This may sound strange, but these people were heading in the same direction as I was and wanted to please the Lord as much as I did. I discovered that the real motive for our coming together was not only to plan programming but so that the Lord could unveil the truth of my heart in relationship to my church family in this microcosm of community that met frequently together. We talked, laughed, and prayed together as we shared of ourselves in the time we met together.

I am convinced that this unveiling of ourselves in the meetings translated to powerful effective programming that was experienced in Sabbath School.

My intended "short stay" on the committee lasted more than two years and was terminated only when we moved to another area and I was unable to continue attending the church. Our two years together with the members revealed some meaningful lessons for me that I would like to share.

• My erroneous perceptions (also known as the sin of judging) of my liberal church family members. The "me who has it right" against the "you who don’t have it right" mentality was revealed and changed not in saying hello on Sabbath mornings but in interacting with each of the committee members and exchanging meaningful dialogue about things that mattered to each of us. In those transactions God was able to use them to reveal my heart problem. It is the sin in each of our hearts that keeps God from expressing himself among his people. My lofty opinion of myself stood in the way of the unity God wanted to see happen in our committee and then translated to the rest of the church.

• I discovered that it was in meaningful dialogue that my values and view of God were clarified and strengthened as I interacted with people that I would not have chosen to relate to on my own. God put us together as a committee and it slowly dawned on me that it had far less to do with program planning and everything to do with my heart and with relationships with my church family.

• A painful lesson I learned was that I found my liberal friends—especially Bonnie—much more compassionate and accepting of me as a person and ultimately as a friend than I would have been to her. I have often sought counsel from liberal friends when confronted with mistreatment from my conservative "brethren" and found their compassion far exceeded mine.

• We all came from different backgrounds and those differences only enhanced our relationships in this small microcosm of church. I was intrigued by insights from committee members who were second and third generation Adventists and equally blessed as they listened intently to my insights coming from my first generational inner-city roots.