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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)

 


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