Dear Church,
“God put a million, million doors in the world for His love to walk through, one of those doors is you.” –Jason Gray
This will not be easy. Many will think we are being “political” and find a way to dismiss us. That’s ok. Please remember that Jesus confronted the political realities of his time. When faced with an assault on the dignity of the building in which His Father’s spirit dwelt, he cleared the temple with a whip. When faced with an assault on the dignity of people who are image bearers of God, we as the Church have too often and for too long been silent.
This is actually to all our white friends, but as believers we have no excuse in this.
Just because something has always been does not make it right. We are all walking this path toward redemption, and we are all being transformed into the likeness of Christ; we extend a hand if you’d like to walk with us. We can only do so because people farther down this path have extended their hands to us. Let us continue together in grace-filled conversations. Let us open Pandora’s box and have these discussions in the open. Let’s explore what the Bible says about equality and the outsider and the ones who have less.
If we proclaim that we are pro-life, doesn’t that follow that we are pro EVERY life, no matter the skin tone, socio-economic status, nationality, ethnicity, age, gender, etc. that define that life? Can we fight vehemently for the unborn, but stay silent for those already living? When God created humans, he made ALL of us in His image. Our God is not white or black or brown or anything in between; our God is all of these and so much more. Our God is so unimaginably big that He needs EVERY HUMAN EVER ALIVE to reflect His Glory, and He did it in all the colors and all the shapes imaginable. That’s a big God. He can handle this. He can handle our fears and insecurities about this situation and what to do next. You can believe He has been walking alongside those plagued by injustice, carrying them when necessary, but never leaving them behind. He is a God who SEES, He does not turn a blind eye to pain and suffering-and He does not turn a blind eye to our silence.
We can do better! Examine your hearts, like we are called to ask Him to do. Together, let us seek Him as we root out any hidden feelings we might be hiding to hold us back from supporting others. Learning about white fragility is hard. Putting aside indignation to understand how flawed our system is and how we may have (even inadvertently) benefitted from it is hard. That’s okay. Our God does not call us to a life of ease and comfort; He calls us to follow Him into the places that are hard, knowing that He can and will sustain us. He calls us to lose our lives to find them, not to retreat into a comfortable, sanitized Christian bubble.
A few action items: ask yourself hard questions; have hard conversations about this topic. Take a look at the media you consume, the faces you surround yourself with, and the stories in your home. Do they all look and think like you? Have you insulated yourself from those who are different from you? From views that are different? Ask yourself: did Jesus avoid those who thought differently from Him? What makes you think He wants His followers to? How did He relate to people who were different from Him? Shouldn’t we do the same?
Do not be afraid, church, of exposing yourself to other views. God is the author of TRUTH, and He can give you discernment. You will not wilt when confronted by ideas different than your own, but you might slowly be changed, and that can be a beautiful and holy process. You do not have to AGREE with these voices, but please hear them and try to IMAGINE where they are coming from. Empathize with them. Understand the difference between the ability to empathize with somebody and condoning their actions. For example, we do not condone rioting, but we hold tension in our hearts about it because we understand the depths of desperation that might cause someone to feel so unheard that they resort to violence. Ask our good and gracious God to give you empathy and strength to stand up when injustice is happening around you. Please do not imagine that just because in your life you haven’t experienced injustice that it does not exist-it is reality that millions of God’s children around the world suffer from evil and fear every day.
Purposefully put yourself in situations
in which you are a minority. Pay attention to how it feels, how it changes the way that you react and think. True empathy takes time and relationships to build; it’s not a weekend outing, it’s not a short-term visit. As Henri Nouwen said, “Compassion is not a bending toward the underprivileged from a privileged position; it is not a reaching out from on high to those who are less fortunate below; it is not a gesture of sympathy or pity for those who fail to make it in the upward pull. On the bcontrary, compassion means going directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there.” We need to go to those who are hurting, and build our homes there.
If you are stuck, reach out and educate yourself. Exposure to different voices is so critical. Look for HOPE, strive for a deeper level of EMPATHY. We got bogged down this last week in the desperate feel of it all, but as pastor Steven Furtick says, “despair is just as deadly as denial,” and “guilt is not a strategy; maybe we don’t know the difference between guilt and repentance.” This is not about us, it’s about remembering what God has already taught us. We can all do better.
We are thankful to have so many fellow travelers on this journey who articulate and draw attention to things that matter. We’re grateful for you, and we love you.
Your brother and sister,
Kirk and Audrey
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