May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14, New Living Translation).
The last few months have presented the world with a challenge unlike almost all currently alive have faced, a pandemic. The first and ongoing is a health pandemic. In the last couple of weeks, a second more insidious pandemic has emerged that many didn’t know was simmering, systemic racism. Yes many, particularly BIPOC knew it was there, but many of the people that look like me didn’t think about it very often. That’s part of my white privilege and owning it process. I can take a break from social media and the news, stick my head in the sand, and ignore what’s going on. BIPOC cannot.
As a Christian when evaluating situations in life and how we should act. One of the main guides should be what does scripture say. In the first week since George Floyd’s death, I had seen very little of Christians speaking out as Christians from either side. I don’t say that to judge my Christian brothers and sisters in my newsfeed. The things I’ve shared for the most part isn’t biblically inspired either. But I wanted to write what I now hope becomes a series focused on the ideas that I scroll across in my or my wife’s social media. Since writing down ideas, reading as many articles as I had time, I’ve come across more Christian voices.
Other than my own personal desire, why am I trying to do this from a Christian worldview? Some Christians have been supportive of Black Lives Matter and protesting against police brutality, but many have not been. Even Satanists and Witches have joined the protests. What does it say to the marginalized, oppressed and young people across the country that these “godless” groups can call out injustices, but a large number of Christians cannot? I would argue silence defends the status quo which means going back to how things were a month ago.
My wife is in many different groups on Facebook, Alternative, Music, Fashion, Punky Mom, Christian Moms, and Modesty. The ones talking about this saying that Black lives, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor. The police brutality waging war against their neighbors needs to stop are the ones that are not Christian groups. The Christian groups are business as usual. In fact, in some circles, Christians are intentionally not supporting racial justice because the pagans and Satanists are supporting it.
“What does the Lord require of you? Seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15, ESV
You may not like the tactics of some protestors, I certainly don’t like looting and vandalism, but there certainly is a lot of weeping by my black brothers and sisters. So, I weep with them.
Seeking justice can take many forms. There is no shortage of injustices around the world. Depending on your geography and background different ones will take priority. Focusing on one injustice, systemic racism against BIPOC, doesn’t mean other ones are unimportant or you don’t care about them. We are not God, a single person or small group cannot tackle all of them at once.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5. I know that’s in a passage Jesus speaking about not judging and I am transferring the meaning a little (dangerous at times). But I will posit that we should focus on the injustices closest to us first so that we may see more clearly injustice elsewhere in the world.
I aim to go into these topics and many more in the coming weeks/months. I leave you with a quote from one of the few articles I come across on a Christian website a couple of weeks ago when I started.
“The anti-African history of the past 500 years has seeped deep into the Western psyche and uprooting that through reading more widely, listening deeply to the other and spending quality time with them may be some of the steps that can prove useful. Praying for one another is fine but it is not a substitute for engagement with matters of racial justice and taking appropriate, costly action.” https://www.christiantoday.com/article/the-church-and-racism-actions-must-speak-louder-than-words/134998.htm
The last few months have presented the world with a challenge unlike almost all currently alive have faced, a pandemic. The first and ongoing is a health pandemic. In the last couple of weeks, a second more insidious pandemic has emerged that many didn’t know was simmering, systemic racism. Yes many, particularly BIPOC knew it was there, but many of the people that look like me didn’t think about it very often. That’s part of my white privilege and owning it process. I can take a break from social media and the news, stick my head in the sand, and ignore what’s going on. BIPOC cannot.
As a Christian when evaluating situations in life and how we should act. One of the main guides should be what does scripture say. In the first week since George Floyd’s death, I had seen very little of Christians speaking out as Christians from either side. I don’t say that to judge my Christian brothers and sisters in my newsfeed. The things I’ve shared for the most part isn’t biblically inspired either. But I wanted to write what I now hope becomes a series focused on the ideas that I scroll across in my or my wife’s social media. Since writing down ideas, reading as many articles as I had time, I’ve come across more Christian voices.
Other than my own personal desire, why am I trying to do this from a Christian worldview? Some Christians have been supportive of Black Lives Matter and protesting against police brutality, but many have not been. Even Satanists and Witches have joined the protests. What does it say to the marginalized, oppressed and young people across the country that these “godless” groups can call out injustices, but a large number of Christians cannot? I would argue silence defends the status quo which means going back to how things were a month ago.
My wife is in many different groups on Facebook, Alternative, Music, Fashion, Punky Mom, Christian Moms, and Modesty. The ones talking about this saying that Black lives, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor. The police brutality waging war against their neighbors needs to stop are the ones that are not Christian groups. The Christian groups are business as usual. In fact, in some circles, Christians are intentionally not supporting racial justice because the pagans and Satanists are supporting it.
“What does the Lord require of you? Seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15, ESV
You may not like the tactics of some protestors, I certainly don’t like looting and vandalism, but there certainly is a lot of weeping by my black brothers and sisters. So, I weep with them.
Seeking justice can take many forms. There is no shortage of injustices around the world. Depending on your geography and background different ones will take priority. Focusing on one injustice, systemic racism against BIPOC, doesn’t mean other ones are unimportant or you don’t care about them. We are not God, a single person or small group cannot tackle all of them at once.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5. I know that’s in a passage Jesus speaking about not judging and I am transferring the meaning a little (dangerous at times). But I will posit that we should focus on the injustices closest to us first so that we may see more clearly injustice elsewhere in the world.
I aim to go into these topics and many more in the coming weeks/months. I leave you with a quote from one of the few articles I come across on a Christian website a couple of weeks ago when I started.
“The anti-African history of the past 500 years has seeped deep into the Western psyche and uprooting that through reading more widely, listening deeply to the other and spending quality time with them may be some of the steps that can prove useful. Praying for one another is fine but it is not a substitute for engagement with matters of racial justice and taking appropriate, costly action.” https://www.christiantoday.com/article/the-church-and-racism-actions-must-speak-louder-than-words/134998.htm