See… that's the thing modern evangelicals don't pay attention to – to what Jesus proves. If the Trinity is the nature of God, and Jesus is an aspect of that triune deity, then we have a God who suffers. People don't want a God who suffers. They want an all-powerful, magical sky-daddy slave who grants their wishes cum prayers. What we have is a God who suffers… a God who walks with us to comfort us… a God, in Jesus, who shows us how to live lives of divine agape love and inclusion. We have a God who shows us how to be, rather than making us what we are not.

That last line is paraphrasing something the preacher of the SBC said around the time I made my profession of faith. The idea stuck with me. Maybe it's why I cling to the ideals of inclusivity. Sadly, that pastor was eventually forced out of that church as being the cause of the break up of the congregation — because he had the nerve to bring a Black family into church membership.

Right… he broke up the congregation — it couldn't possibly have been the bigotry of the white old guard.

In all fairness, the majority of the congregation accepted the family, walked forward and shook their hands or hugged them in welcome. I recall only a handful of the always packed pews still occupied during the welcome. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the church leadership comprised that white old guard.