Skip to main content

George Floyd, Injustice, and the Church

My pastor wrote a letter to our congregation today seeking prayer for the family of George Floyd and the officer responsible for his death, among other requests, encouragement to guard against becoming jaded against the world we live in, and to help us be receptive to what we can do during this crisis. I wrote a short response in support of him, which follows.

"I was thinking this morning about our role in this as Christians. This is a moment when white, African American, and other Christians can together display the power of Christ and the gospel over racism: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:38)

We are all servants of the same God, and all made in his image. To see you empathize with African Americans publicly is healing. I'm encouraged that, as Martin Luther King, Jr., said, we as a church can be like the early church: a thermostat and not a thermometer, that helped to end evils like infanticide and gladiator contests through its conviction of being "called to obey God rather than man." Alone, I am weak, but together with God's church, I'm part of his work to redeem his world, to help others know the freedom and hope we have in Christ; and so are you."

I once wasn't sure how to respond to Martin Luther King, Jr., because I had heard he supported communism, among other stances (I've since read that he, in fact, opposed communism because it is materialistic; its morality is relative and unfixed; and because it treats man as a part in the machine of the state--"a depersonalized cog in the turning wheel of the state;" see here). However, after reading his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," I see that he was a fellow believer and loved the church, despite its flaws and its failures in the face of racial injustice.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a quiet person. I try to stay apolitical because I hate conflict. However, I feel that the conflict in this world does not allow anyone to remain neutral for long. In the face of such conflict, racial or otherwise, I want others to see the church as God's instrument to bring them into the life offered to us in Christ Jesus. Regarding our Savior, the Jews were looking for a very political messiah that would end Roman oppression. Instead, they got a king who rules a different kind of kingdom, a spiritual kingdom whose heirs experience his forgiveness for sins, a peace, and a hope of eternity in which we will forever praise God because we will come to know his goodness.

We as a country are hurting, and while I believe I can't alone address that pain, I can be part of the solution by sharing the love of Christ with others and, yes, crying out against injustice in whatever form. Jesus did that with Pharisees who "strained out a gnat but swallowed a camel." He can use me to do the same. My voice, while quiet, can yet be heard as a voice of love and healing, as was the voice of Jesus. I know that it is only through him that I can do anything. In fact, far from being powerless, with Christ, "I can do all things." (Philippians 4:13)

 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Savior

This wasteland cold and dark runs free Its fearful creatures speak to me One fateful day one nudged my hand To set my eyes upon a tree He knew I could not understand For I was in his native land His signs became our common speech To lead me through the deadly sand Now stuck I saw him me beseech He could not lift me out to reach The firm foundation of a cave Outside the boundaries of this beach Withal, the beast became more brave To risk his own my life to save To carry me, its life it gave To carry me, its life it gave. This poem was inspired by Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." That poem, like this one, has four four-line stanzas of eight syllables per stanza. Its rhyme scheme is AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD.
Post a Comment
Read more

Evil, According to Republicans and Democrats

Please note that the following thoughts are only my observations. Please consider the evidence you see in the behavior of both parties for yourself. In our politically polarized climate, I was thinking about how Democrats and Republicans are different, and where those differences come from. Democrats seem to place more hope in institutions, and seek to reform those institutions when there is something wrong in society. Hence, there is more willingness to levy taxes to offer more social services as a support to those with less than others. They see the state as a way to equalize society. Thus, evil, to Democrats, seems to be a social issue: if there is a problem in society--poverty, racism, climate change, etc.--it is a problem with the structure of society and must be addressed as such: repair the system, and you will solve the problem. They are generally accepting of a larger state bureaucracy because they believe that increased accountability within a state structure will prevent evi...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Nice Guy Fallacy

I read part of a poem recently by one of my favorite poets. It reads: I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage The linnet born within the cage That never knew the summer woods. I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time Unfetter'd by the sense of crime To whom a conscience never wakes. Nor what may call itself as bles't The heart that never plighted troth But stagnates in the weeds of sloth Nor any want-begotten rest. I hold it true, whate'er befall I feel it, when I sorrow most 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. At base, Tennyson contrasted a life of risk, and consequent pain, with one of security. He sides conclusively with the life of risk, and says he fails to envy those who have faced no hardship. I agree with him; and, for good or ill, his words are just as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. Like then, there are those today who choose to live their lives with as little risk as...
2 comments
Read more