Over the past week, I confess I have sought to find words to share in a meaningful way, and not just add noise to the tension. That is because we must explicitly condemn racial injustice and give it no place in our society. I needed conversations and prayer to help me, which they did, because I slowed down long enough to listen.
George Floyd. Ahmaud Aubrey. Breonna Taylor. These are the most recent names on a long list of black men and women killed in our country as a result of their skin color. The attitudes and values that led to those deaths did not spring from thin air, but stem from a legacy of racial injustice.
To paraphrase our Social Principles of the United Methodist Church: We commit as the Church to challenge unjust systems of power and access in our society. Our nation was founded with the sweeping assertion that each of us is endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, we know that ideal was not a functioning reality at the founding, and we are far from finished. What was established was a challenge – a charge to keep – to contribute toward a better world. Still, there has been and continues to be injustice, which the protests of today are confronting.
Yet, amid the ongoing turmoil, let us be careful in discerning the difference between those who sincerely protest for a more just society and those exploiting an opportunity to sow chaos, destroy, steal, and incite violence for different agendas. The sincere protesters are not only a reminder of persistent injustice, but are also calling everyone to join in making it stop. It is a choice each of us must make every day: a choice between the tolerance of bigotry, selfishness, fear, and anger … or empathy, grace, generosity, and self-giving love.
When an expert in the Law asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment, recall his response: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind … And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Isn’t this the world we long for? The one we must strive for? In the sentiment attributed to Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” and someday, maybe within our children’s lifetime, no one will need to say which lives matter, because they all do.
Beloved, as always, I am available for conversation and especially for listening. This week has been a time for a preacher to remember that listening is a good primer for speaking. But, more importantly, listening leads to understanding. I hope you will join me in that pursuit.
Pastor Harden