Embracing Diversity:

A Story of Unity and Inclusion in a White Majority Church

I met a friend for lunch the other day. She related a story to me about the church that she attends. It's a white majority church and she is of global majority heritage, so she had found herself to be in the minority. Nothing new. She stated that it is a friendly congregation. Warm and welcoming.

One of the leaders of the Church was running a session that Sunday on unity and diversity co-existing. They had a real desire to embrace and welcome difference. Heart felt and genuine. It appeared that as a part of their strategy they were earnestly deliberating "how can we love our black and brown brothers and sisters?" Referencing the book of Revelation (7:9) where a vision of heaven contains every tribe, nation, and tongue, the leader asked the congregation “can we love our neighbour? can we really be together in harmony as friends?” Mumbles of hope ricocheted across the hall “yes, yes we can”. The heartfelt desire was there…

The leader posed questions to the congregation, moving in amongst them with a roving mic, making the sermon interactive. She asked them to name stories in the Bible where relationships had broken down. One said Joseph and his brothers, another Cain and Abel, another Jacob and Esau. My friend stayed quiet, but she wanted to say Sarah (Patriarch Abraham’s wife) and Hagar (their Egyptian slave). But that would be too controversial.

“Could you imagine the scandal if I had piped up with Hagar and Sarah?” she said. I agreed that would have been asking for trouble, but pointed out that some would not have even realized the story behind the story, because of how the story is taught and the western European lens through which ‘we’ view it. The passage legitimises the ill-treatment of Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl who is already out of her context, culture, and subordinate. She is painted as ‘sassy’ and deserving of the treatment because she had an attitude at being made pregnant by her mistress’s husband Abraham.. In other words, her handmaiden is offered up against her will because Sarai is unable to conceive. We pour over Joseph and his multicoloured coat, the deceit between Jacob and his father stealing his brother’s inheritance, yet we never give time to this poor treatment as unjust behaviour (not unless you are reading through a black, womanist, or liberation theological lens).

Here is where my friend found an issue. The teaching of the story of Sarai not being able to conceive, using Hagar as a surrogate rather than believing in God’s timing, has always been taught from the dominant culture’s perspective. It focuses on relationship over not relationship with. My friend knew that the congregation would most likely brush over the conflict in that relationship between Hagar and Sarai because they most likely had never been taught to care for Hagar ‘the other’ or to see that point of view. Hagar was merely a vehicle, a black body fit for use by the dominant narrative and its characters (albeit it being essential to the Christian faith!). Her humanity remains on the margins.

The congregation would not have been taught to see Hagar’s humanity and pain. In the same way, the ‘other’ is often seen as a commodity or stereotyped as useful or exotic. How do we ensure that we don’t exploit what we don’t understand in these spaces where a particular reading of scripture dominates? It is easy to overlook vulnerabilities in favour of using the gift that the body brings for one’s agenda without tending to that body with the same care you would others. It is often too easy to grasp in our strength and exploit the body that is already carrying their dreams and wanting to divest of their burdens. Hagar is required to ‘abort’ her potential to carry another person’s vision, and as the one that is not in power, she has been manipulated into it.

In the eyes of Scripture, she deserves to be treated as not human for being ‘sassy’. No one is advocating disrespect here. And sassy is my word. But in today’s terms, black women would have experienced it as micro-aggressions in the workplace or elsewhere. She/Hagar needs to be brought down a peg or two. I mean, “Who Do You Think You Are?” Our western euro-centric interpretation says yes quite right cast her out because she played her face to Sarai. Never mind that Sarai gave her to her husband to get pregnant. I mean, imagine the cheek of her responding negatively to that! Sarai (as she is called at this point) gives her slave to her husband because she cannot conceive. Not trusting God to come through on his promise, she imagines a “better way” that maybe this young potent Egyptian girl in a strange land would be able to carry her one desire, taking her body in surrogacy. How many African American Women had done the same, nursing their mistress’s baby, and depriving their children of their breast milk to do so? Hagar’s body was colonized for someone else’s cause, and she is treated harshly to the point that she has to flee for her safety."

After an encounter with an angel telling her to return. Hagar leaves the desert assured that she is seen and loved after her divine intervention. Do we read this as a form of repentance? Hagar, though not a part of the faith, has a direct divine encounter with God before Sarai. She is the first to liberate herself from those oppressive structures, as womanist theologian scholar Delores Williams reminds us in her seminal work ‘Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God Talk.’ Hagar being named in scripture is important. A pioneer with many firsts, she is also the first to name God. Therefore, though her narrative and presence may be invisible to mainstream interpretation, viewed eternally as ‘other,’ she plays a significant part. Yet her story remains muted.

No doubt on returning, humbled by her encounter and in her condition, perhaps she simply assimilates in order to get along as best she can in the situation. There is no indication that Sarah asks for forgiveness or that there is true reconciliation. Each must accept their positionality and play their roles. How much agency does she have when she is not the one in a position of power?

My friend sat in the congregation and stayed silent. She knew, however, that the desire of those people was real, even if they might not see her context or know that her lens gives her a slightly different view. Of course, love is the antidote to any trouble. Christ’s greatest message. Could she “be loved and be love?" to quote Bob Marley.

If they knew her concerns, it would be just as easy for them to state, “Well, why don’t you go back to where you come from?” She would not have very far to travel, having grown up in a multicultural context in the area. The word had conditioned her and her friends to be on the outside looking in. She stayed silent, knowing that her contribution may not be welcomed or, more likely, not comprehended. But it was through no fault of her own. We are all born into a system that has been designed to crowd out those different perspectives. But one day, every tribe, tongue, and nation will prevail with true equity.