美国国家公共电台 NPR Integrating Sunday Morning Church Service — A Prayer Answered

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Most people go to church with people who look like them. In 1960, Martin Luther King Jr. described Sunday morning as the most segregated¹ hour in Christian² America. He called on churches to become more diverse - so far, not a lot of progress. Now two churches in Oakland, Calif., are trying to meet that challenge to integrate by becoming one congregation. Sandhya Dirks, of member station KQED, reports it's not easy.

SANDHYA DIRKS, BYLINE³: When Pastor⁴ Bernard Emerson met Pastor Kyle Brooks⁵, they knew they were spiritual soulmates. For example, they liked to quote the same passages from the Bible.

BERNARD EMERSON: Jesus's prayer in John 17 was, father, make them one...

KYLE BROOKS: Father, make them one as you and I are one.

EMERSON: ....As you and I are one.

BROOKS: The point, in some ways, of the church is to be a display of God's love for the world. And we cannot do that effectively if we don't love each other.

DIRKS: Brooks says they both wondered how people could love each other - could be one - if they weren't in the same room.

BROOKS: The vast majority of people in the United States who go to church go to a church that is racially and ethnically⁷ homogenous⁸.

DIRKS: According to a national congregation study, 8 out of 10 American churchgoers attend a congregation in which a single racial or ethnic⁶ group is in the vast majority. That was the case at both Brooks' and Emerson's small churches. For Pastor Emerson, it was extra true. A lot of his congregants or members of his extended family. His congregation called The Way was a black church in the American Baptist tradition. Brooks ran Oakland Communion, a church of mostly white newer residents. He comes from the Christian Reformed tradition. Emerson says, despite all their differences, the two pastors⁹ kept talking about their shared vision for an integrated church.

EMERSON: It was always the intent of our Lord that the church be multiethnic.

DIRKS: They kept kicking around the idea - until a year ago, when Neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Va. That was their sign that it was time. So first, they told their congregants.

LASONYA BROWN: I saw it on Facebook. And then instantly I typed back, oh, my God, this is exactly what I've been looking for. I'll be the first one to join.

DIRKS: That's LaSonya Brown. She was raised in the black church. At first, she thought they would just integrate overnight.

BROWN: It's much more complicated than that. You don't think that your life is different than somebody else because you tend to want to think that - what you guys have in common, not the differences. I know that's the way I think.

DIRKS: Brown says they did months of classes at each church - being really real about their fears. All that preparation, she says, was necessary.

BROWN: There's a lot of things that we don't do in common. You know, but we do want to know how to, you know, be together.

DIRKS: The music was different. Each congregation is learning a whole new set of hymns¹⁰. And there were tensions over what kind of food to serve at coffee hour. Some of those interactions came off as rude. For a flash, Brown thought about going somewhere else. But she loves her church.

EMERSON: Welcome to Tapestry¹¹ Church.

DIRKS: On a recent Sunday morning, around 25 people gather in a school cafeteria in East Oakland.

BROOKS: I believe in the Holy Spirit.

DIRKS: The pastors say they've retained most of their original congregants - though not everyone comes every Sunday. They're still a small church. Some new congregants are showing up now, looking for a place where they feel welcome.

DWIGHT DAVIS: We're gay people, you know. So it's nice to be able to come into the place and not feel like everybody's like, hmm, you're going to burn before me, you know? (Laughter).

DIRKS: Dwight Davis and his husband to Oakland 14 years ago. They wanted a racially diverse congregation. But Davis says it can feel awkward to just show up at a traditionally black church, especially when gentrification can make black Oaklanders feel threatened.

DAVIS: In these times, you know, you want to be sensitive to people's sanctuary¹². You know, I don't want to be that one person who interrupts somebody's sanctuary.

DIRKS: You can't just magically make it all better, says Pastor Kyle Brooks.

BROOKS: You're actually bringing people together who have deep and long and somewhat painful, traumatic histories with each other.

DIRKS: Building an intentionally¹³ diverse congregation means sacrificing comfort, says Pastor Bernard Emerson. That means sometimes putting relationships ahead of traditions.

EMERSON: We had to be better brothers to each other than we were pastors.

DIRKS: Both pastors say the way you integrate a church is one Sunday at a time. For NPR News, I'm Sandhya Dirks in Oakland.

1 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

5 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

7 ethnically   

adv.人种上，民族上

参考例句：

• Ethnically, the Yuan Empire comprised most of modern China's ethnic groups. 元朝的民族成分包括现今中国绝大多数民族。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• Russia is ethnically relatively homogeneous. 俄罗斯是个民族成分相对单一的国家。 来自辞典例句

8 homogenous   

adj.同类的，同质的，纯系的

参考例句：

• Japan is a wealthy,homogenous,developed nation with a stable political system.日本是一个富裕的同质型发达国家，政治体制稳定。
• My family is very homogenous and happy.我们这个家庭很和睦很幸福。

9 pastors   

n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do we show respect to our pastors, missionaries, Sunday school teachers? 我们有没有尊敬牧师、宣教士，以及主日学的老师？ 来自互联网
• Should pastors or elders be paid, or serve as a volunteer? 牧师或长老需要付给酬劳，还是志愿的事奉呢？ 来自互联网

10 hymns   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At first, they played the hymns and marches familiar to them. 起初他们只吹奏自己熟悉的赞美诗和进行曲。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• I like singing hymns. 我喜欢唱圣歌。 来自辞典例句

11 tapestry   

n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面

参考例句：

• How about this artistic tapestry and this cloisonne vase?这件艺术挂毯和这个景泰蓝花瓶怎么样？
• The wall of my living room was hung with a tapestry.我的起居室的墙上挂着一块壁毯。

12 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

13 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。