‘Humpty, do you know any persons of colour?’
The answer came promptly. ‘All my acquaintances are people of colour – without exception.’
Clever old Humpty, I thought. He knows a hawk from a handsaw – and he has a sense of humour. Not bad for somebody who was once knocked to pieces.
‘Mind you,’ he added. ‘Some are more coloured than others. Anyhow, it’s not a term I find useful. Try asking yourself what’s the opposite.’
‘Well then, if it’s a waste of breath using the phrase ‘person of colour’, how else can we describe one another?’ I asked Humpty.
This set him off. ‘Almond, beige, ivory, ebony, albino, sable, taupe, ashen, grey, sallow, mustard, florid, olive, puce, swarthy.’
‘Enough! I murmured. ‘I didn’t know you were into complexions.’
‘Only since my accident,’ he ventured. ‘They had some trouble finding the right tinge to give me.’
I’m not surprised, I thought. We don’t have to fall off a wall too know that. Did Luke, I wonder, have any particular pigmentations in mind when he put together those words in Acts 2.9-11?
Most of us have for a long time been accustomed to mingling with newcomers from all over in our streets and supermarkets, not to mention our hospitals and taxis. It’s part of our daily experience. Yet I still wonder how it is that when I look at the websites of go-ahead, pace-setting church plants and their teams, I often see a collection of lovely young people of, shall we say, uniformly pinkish complexion. They are clearly getting on with the job as best they can but they seem a long way from the strategists who know all about these things.
Or have I missed something?
HACKNEY MIX
The multi-ethnic character of the worshippers at St John at Hackney church, London is apparent in a video of them singing ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands.’ The church has been active in providing free meals (140,000) during Covid and makes good use of a grand building dating from 1792 that benefits from a £2m restoration. The church is combining with four others to bring hope to East London. The go-getting website gives substance to this ambition. It also suggests a new shape, a new style, for the established Church. The Rector is Al Gordon. He is a former global vice-president of Alpha International.
SHREWSBURY OUTLOOK
Peter Hubbard has been a vicar in Perth, Australia. He is now Vicar of Christ Church, Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury. The parish has a1980s church serving new housing estates as well as a Victorian church. The parish supports mission in England, Latvia, South Africa, Ethiopia and Nepal.
CRAFTS IN TANZANIA
St Barnabas’s church, Homerton, London also has two centres – St Barnabas and the Church of the Risen Christ. The Vicar is Clive Main. The multi-ethnic parish supports Ben and Kay Ray who work with Neema Crafts in Tanzania.
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