Over the past few weeks, life has been busy. Summer months seem to be crammed full of stuff, fun stuff, but still full. My mind has been wrestling through some current events and so I thought I would write them down.
On July 5th I watched a video of a black man being shot by a police officer in LA. In the desire for full disclosure, I am a white pastor who lives in a primarily white community. There has been much information given and shared about the events of that day. I teach my kids the value of the police and to respect their authority. But the purpose of this post isn't to discuss who was right and who was wrong. Something over the past few weeks has been resonating in my soul.
I watched people respond by saying "they got what they deserved" or "don't resist and follow instructions and this won't happen." Both of these statements may be true, but my heart grows heavy with the spirit of this position. I am grateful that God didn't give me what I deserve. If we are really going to be pro-life, we can't just be pro-the lives we like/relate to. We have to value all life.
Whether you believe in the group called BLM (Black Lives Matter), or if you feel their positions are unjustified, consider this thought for a moment. To these people, they only way that they feel like their position will be heard is for them to do desperate things. What has happened to a group of people, that are created in God's image, who He loves with never stopping love, whom He died to save, that they feel that there is no hope in "the land of free and the home of the brave"?
We have ceased to weep with those who weep. If we don't understand the issue, we ignore it. If we can't relate to a particular struggle, we often pretend that it doesn't exist. For whatever reason we have lost the ability to have compassion. When I started in ministry, I can honestly say, that mercy wasn't my strong suit. But over the years of sitting with people who are about to die, or with widows, or with families that are being torn apart, God has opened my eyes to my need to show mercy.
Let me be clear, this issues at stake here are immense and won't be resolved easily. But there is one part of this situation that we can change quickly. We can become better listeners. We can listen to the struggles of people around us without condemning them. We can open our lives to help them, encourage them, support them. This won't fix all the issues, but it will open doors and allow needed conversations to happen. After all, we are to "love our neighbors as we love ourself." Let's start taking small steps of reconciliation instead of complaining that the goal seems to far away.
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.- Proverbs 15:1
