Further Thoughts on Racism and Injustice

I love our church.

So I gotta say: I love our church. We are living in some challenging and emotionally charged times. And within the last week, we have published a letter and I have prepared a sermon addressing the current racial tensions in this country as a way of pointing people inward to self-reflection and change as we look to Jesus for hope. So why do I love our church? Because people push back. There have been a number of you that have engaged in meaningful conversation, challenging the messaging we’re sending as a church from a number of different perspectives. And I love it. I love it because in every single case, the dialogue has been thoughtful, respectful and not once has the interaction lapsed into unwarranted vitriol, or spiteful accusations, or imputation of character, or name-calling towards one anothers’ mothers. It gives me such hope that a community can dialogue about emotionally charged issues without letting emotion override treating one another with dignity.

SAY SOMETHING.

I also realize that to say anything on this issue is to risk being misunderstood. People hear what they want to hear — either that I’m siding with them, or that I’m obtusely siding with “the other side” — as if this is a binary conversation with only two possible points of view. I can tell I haven’t sided with anyone, because people from both “sides” have expressed frustration with me over the last week. I embrace that frustration, because it’s my role to say something. Saying something means people can take issue with what you say, with what you write, and with what you preach. I accept this.

Clarifying The Issues

I’m adding this page to our church website, not to try to escalate things or to try and keep a sensationalized conversation going. Instead, I’ve been struck by really important points coming from polar opposite perspectives, specifically as it comes to thinking about George Floyd. I’m not posting the links below because I’m presenting a case for one perspective or another. But I have been frustrated at the seeming one-sidedness of every news and media report that we’re reading; everyone is writing from a perspective. So am I. I am writing with the hope of valuing important insights, even if they don’t align with a given pre-existing narrative.

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