A RESPONSE TO RACISM AND INJUSTICE
Dear Church Family,
In a moment where our country is still in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, racism and injustice have dropped us to our knees in prayer – for George Floyd, his family, and his community; for the families and communities whose previous grief and anger have once again been provoked; for all those who identify with them – and for all of us who should. For when any person in this country experiences injustice, we all experience it. At least, we should.
We may feel far away from the epicenters of unrest, but we cannot allow ourselves to be insulated from it. If we do, we are just as broken and just as marred by sin and self-interest as the worst of the perpetrators of violence and injustice. It’s the root of our sinful human condition – to fear differences, to protect one’s own tribe, to be concerned about self above all, and to rest comfortably in security at the expense of others. In Isaiah’s day, God railed against Babylon:
Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure,
lounging in your security,
and saying to yourself,
“I am, and there is none besides me.” (Isaiah 47:8)
Couldn’t those words be aimed at us, far from the immediacy of the actual events, watching on our screens, shaking our heads, and then changing the channel or scrolling down?
Back in February, when Dr. Matthew Kim came to preach in our “Differences and Dignity” teaching series, he modeled for us what a humble and honest approach to this issue could be. Rather than posturing with knee-jerk anger or bandwagon condemnation and raging against the actions of others, he modeled something entirely different:
“I want to begin freely and use my freedom again in Christ to freely admit that I’m a racist. I said it. I’m a racist. In my worst moments, I am a racist... In my worst moments, in my weakest moments, when I’m most susceptible to sin, I have succumbed to send and think racist thoughts... That is the baseline conversation that we need to be able to have today. Scripture teaches us that all have fallen short of the glory of God, and in this area of race we can have one of two responses. We can say, “I’m not a racist. I’ve never done racist things. I’ve never said racist comments.” Or we can all have the common denominator and say, “I am free in Christ to be able to admit that I am a racist in my worst moments; usually not in my best moments, but when sin is reigning and Satan is tempting, I am a racist.”
I hope you remember the honesty, and the pain, in his admission. I hope you remember the challenge to live with that same kind of honesty -- to look within and speak those same words.
As we consider current events, ours cannot be merely a response of outrage; it must also be a response of repentance. Repentance doesn’t displace the need for outrage, but our outrage is shallow and impotent without it. We’re all broken, and we’re all dependent on the grace of Jesus for forgiveness, and we’re all desperate for the transformation of character that only the Holy Spirit can bring.
We need to see ourselves clearly; and we need to see others with even more clarity and compassion. We need to seek the grace of God who takes us as sinners, redeems us, and puts us on a path to wholeness in Jesus. It means we need to cultivate a community that delights in differences and seeks to understand them and celebrate them. A community becomes a generation; a generation becomes a nation.
This week, we grieve with those who grieve, and we join our hearts in what is hopefully righteous anger, if it’s possible to attain a thing of such purity at a time when hurt and loss and fear and rage all combine to bring out the best -- and the worst -- in us. This week, we acknowledge our complicity in the divisions that mar our national identity, a complicity based on the transgression of silence and indifference. This week, we repent of our silence and we repent of our constant propensity to put our own needs above all others, and then once our needs have been met, to rest complacent while justice is denied to others. Lord Jesus, forgive us.
Our friend Leon Stevenson, one of our Global Outreach partners and the Lead Pastor of Mack Ave Community Church in Detroit, wrote to me this week and said,
“The prophetic voice of black people is calling for repentance of white America: Repentance for those that are extremist and repentance of silence and complicit support of extremists when their perspectives were free to be voiced unchecked... Repentance is not only an acknowledgment of wrong doing but a commitment to moving forward in a new direction. I love y’all. Man, how I love y’all! But I love justice more and as God has sent you to where you are serving, please acknowledge wrong, not just the wrong in others and in systems (please do that), but also the wrong in yourselves (ourselves, as I am included) and commit to living differently.”
Our response cannot be limited to a letter, or to a few moments on a Sunday morning. What we need is ongoing conversation towards an appreciation of ethnicity, diversity, and the pursuit of justice. We need change.
Towards this end, we would like to invite you to a new study group that will be starting in the coming weeks, exploring the book Beyond Colorblind by Sarah Shin. Rather than just joining in the plentiful outrage and adding yet another Facebook post to the interminable feed, we are endeavoring to create a space for actual dialogue about issues of race and ethnicity as we seek to understand others better. We hope you can join in this conversation as one concrete way we can respond to these events that might bring change... recognizing that change might have to start in us.
If we hope to see justice in our world, we invite you to add repentance to your outrage. We invite you to celebrate the beauty of ethnicity in God’s kingdom and in this country. We invite you to envision a land where justice isn’t limited by race but is freely granted to all. It might start with merely envisioning such a place – but such a vision brings us one step closer to reality if we choose to live differently because of it. We lift up the families and communities of George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and of all those who long to sing of love and justice. We don’t have all the answers; we’re even slow in understanding the questions; but in Jesus’ name, we embrace the need for change.
In Jesus' Name,
On behalf of the Elders and the Leadership Team,
Together with you,
Click here to revisit Matt's sermon on freedom and race in our Differences & Dignity teaching series, from February 9, 2020.
Click here to hear Leon share his response to these events and his words to the church from a Facebook Live post earlier this week.