Preaching on Racial Justice Sunday (RJS), or even preaching on racial justice at all, has a tendency to make some preachers nervous. It’s not so much that people don’t know about the topic but rather they get nervous about saying the ‘wrong’ thing or even encountering criticism for saying the ‘right’ thing. However, Racial Justice Sunday offers an opportunity for preaching the Good News from a variety of approaches. I want to suggest four texts which a preacher might use not only to explore the theme of racial justice but also to be able to preach about the imperative for justice and the call to be builders of God’s Kingdom.

THE EVIL OF RACISM – EPHESIANS 6:10-17

This year marks 30 years since the first Racial Justice Sunday which was established in 1995 by the Methodist Church as part of the response to the tragic murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

Whilst much has changed in the intervening years, the prevalence and persistence of racism at its most brutal remains. According to the latest figures available from the Home Office the overwhelming majority of recorded hate crimes in 2024 were racially motivated, accounting for over two-thirds of such offences (70%; 98,799 offences). That is an average of over 270 racially motivated crimes each day of the year in England and Wales – with cases of violent assault, criminal damage and harassment making up those numbers.

Against such a backdrop the words of the Apostle Paul provide an insight and basis for preachers to reflect on a Christian response. Paul begins his description of the armour of God in Ephesians 6:10-17 with a recognition of the nature of the battle we face as followers of Christ: ‘Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’

Racism is one of the weapons of the spiritual forces of evil. It is not only to be resisted, it is to be fought and not only by those who would be victims of its pernicious effects. Rather the call is for all of God’s people to be involved in resisting and challenging evil wherever it is to be found. Such a battle can be long fought; as was reputedly said during the civil rights movement in the United States: ‘it is was easy, it wouldn’t be called a struggle.’ This text offers the preacher the opportunity to reflect on why racial justice is important, who should be involved and how to respond through the armour of God.

A COMMON IDENTITY – GALATIANS 3:23-29

We live in a time when there are many movements, within and without the church, which seek to define an identity based on factors such as race, gender or sexuality. For some, such movements are contemporary versions of the divisions which Paul so passionately opposed in Galatia.

Against all such determinations of identity, Paul reminds us that our primary identity is to be found in Christ: ‘So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ (Galatians 3:26-28)

Back in 2002 John Sentamu, who was then Bishop of Stepney, was announced as the new Bishop of Birmingham. It says something of the times we live in both then and now that his appointment led both national print and broadcast news because he would be the first Black Diocesan Bishop in the Church of England.

At the press conference that followed the announcement of his appointment John Sentamu was asked how it felt to be the first Black Diocesan Bishop in the Church of England. He replied by saying when it came to his identity, first he was a Christian, secondly he was a man and third he was black. But first and foremost his identity was to be found not in his colour or his gender but in Christ.

His answer serves as a useful reminder to us about our identity in Christ. As Christians we do not stop being men or women. We do not stop being English, Iranian, from Yorkshire or Birmingham. We do not stop being husbands or wives. These things continue to be part of who we are. But they all take second place to our primary identity, a new identity in Jesus Christ.

In light of this understanding any act of racial injustice, by definition treating someone less favourably due to their racial characteristics, denies the truth of that new identity in Christ and reimposes the divisions so resisted by Paul. Any movement or practice that seeks to place favour of one group ‘first’ over another denies a common identity in Christ.

THE JUSTICE IMPERATIVE - AMOS 5:18-27

Amos 5 begins with a warning to the people of God. The divine call to act justly has been denied and ignored. God’s people carry on day to day, performing their rituals, singing their songs, whilst those who suffer among them are denied justice.

God’s warning to his people in Amos is twofold. First comes an instruction in verses 14-15 - to hate evil, do good and to maintain justice. The second is that if you fail to do this, if you ignore the widows, the orphans, the immigrants, the poor, then do not come to me with your praise because it will be but as a stench to me.

Writing about this passage the Baptist preacher Steve Holloway put it this way: ‘If we simply “do church” and ignore the injustice in our society, it is too weak to say that we disappoint God. Amos says that God finds a church like that disgusting. “I don’t want your offerings,” the Lord says. “I can’t stand the noise of your praise songs and your organ preludes. If you don’t want to do justice, get out of my house!”’

The message is clear: if our worship and praise of God is to be acceptable, if our relationship is to be right, then we cannot ignore injustice.

BUILDING THE KINGDOM - LUKE 4:14-21

I became a Christian in the 1980s. I was baptised at the age of 16 at my local Baptist church in 1988. As I began to explore my faith and to learn more about Jesus of Nazareth I began to change the way I saw the world and the injustices that were apparent in it and those who were leading the fight against those injustices. And at that time back in the late 80s at the forefront of those movements were Christian women and men who were putting their faith into action by being part of, founding or leading movements of justice.

There was Rosa Parks whose faith led her to launch the bus boycott in the USA. There were the worshippers of St Nicholas Church in Leipzig, whose prayer and action became the focus point for the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was Lech Walesa leading the Polish trade union Solidarity, there was Bruce Kent who chaired the campaign for nuclear disarmament, Peter Bennson still leading Amnesty international and Chad Varah leading the Samaritans.

But it was in the area of racial equality that I most understood how the Jesus’ words in the synagogue at Nazareth took shape. To begin with it was the Anti-Apartheid movement whose work focused on the daily injustices endured by people of colour in South Africa lived under a system of law which officially enshrined in law their position as second class citizens in society.

In the years that followed I became an active anti-racism campaigner, joining in marches and demonstrations for justice for those who had been murdered in racist attacks in Britain – young men such as Ricky Reel, Rohit Duggal and Stephen Lawrence.

And when I was asked by those who I marched with how I had come to be there I would tell them I was able to tell them with passion that it wasn’t the colour of my skin but the faith of my heart that compelled me to act. That the Jesus I knew and followed was one who was on the side of the oppressed, on the side of those were downtrodden, that he was on the side of all of these who had lost their lives and in whose memories we marched.

The Nazareth Manifesto in Luke Chapter 4 sets out Jesus’ mission in the words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:18-19).

At the heart of the Nazareth manifesto is a call to justice and building the kingdom of God. This call is not optional. Through working for racial justice, through battling the evils of racism and by giving full dignity to every brother and sister in Christ – every child of God – we join in as co-labourers with the very work of God in building His Kingdom here on earth.