From ages five to adult, my worldview was formed at a small, multi-cultural church on the south side of Chicago. My pastor was a seasoned white man, Pastor Theme. He was a kind, gentle-spirited man who loved the Lord and served our church and school community with joy. The elders of my church were men, both black and white. I knew them by name, and they knew me and my family. My mom was the PTA president of our school, and my dad was a key member of the church choir. Back then, you practically lived at church! One thing was constant: I saw God’s people, black and white, worshipping and working together in harmony.

I have spent almost 64 years on this planet. The past 20 years, give or take, have exposed my ignorance and/or altered my personal views of more things than I care to admit. For instance, retired equals carefree, age equals wisdom, church work equals spirituality, and affluence equals success, just to name a few.

We are a part of Harmony because of the mission Christ gave to all His followers. It can be summarized: love God with all your being AND love people (Matthew 22:37-40). God has called us to love people, and Harmony is a tool that helps us carry out this mission. The purpose of Harmony CORE-alition is “… to create community, racial reconciliation, and education for the world to know true harmony.” Because of current events in America, we believe racial reconciliation is important, and we try to actively be a part of the solution and not simply add to the problem.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates introduced an eye-opening view of race for me. Coates writes a love letter to his son on the Black experience. This practice is something my father, a white man, did not have to do for me. However, the conversations between Black fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, families and offspring are all too familiar within Black communities.

People are different. You know that. We have different personalities, different opinions, different life experiences, different family cultures, different views on politics and religion, & different heartaches and wounds.

Black History month seems to be a complicated time in our year. This past week, I was blessed to engage in a conversation with five educators from Middle Tennessee. It was interesting to hear…

“I am called to be a conduit of the Kingdom and bring people from different worlds together to make a beautiful sound in the earth using unconventional methods.”