“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24 ESV
I never share from my life experience to incite guilt or to cause ANYONE to feel as though they should somehow have to apologize for who God in His infinite wisdom has created them to be. That my friends, is foolishness and goes against God’s perfect design for His people.
I share for 2 reasons....because there are far too many who still harbor hate in their hearts and because even for those who don’t harbor hate, it is still far too easy to slap the labels of “identity politics” and “race-baiting” to my pain and experiences so they are then free to “wash their hands” of ever even hearing my voice......
Ever since I was a little girl & maybe because of my life experiences, I have always had a strong sense of justice. So, there have been times in my life when I have spoken up and out for others who were being treated unjustly. But sadly, truth be told, there have been far too many times when I have failed to adequately stand in the gap on behalf of those who possibly would’ve benefited greatly from the addition of my voice to their struggle. Something in me.....something about this particular season of my life and the divisive climate we’re living in will no longer allow me to do that.....hold my peace that is....
My heart was crushed this past week, during the recognition of the 50th year since Dr. King’s assassination, by the voices of so many other believers who have been quick to say that social justice has no place in the church....I read this sentiment in comment after comment.....on the messages posted by The Gospel Coalition.
Please help me understand. Is not the fight for the unborn social justice? Is not the fight for those being trafficked in modern day slavery also social justice?
Is it not also social justice to fight for religious freedom and liberties, to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and care for widows and orphans?
Why then, is it easier to say that men who look like my husband and sons are first criminals that deserve to be riddled with bullets? Why is it easier to say “If they just would do as they were told; none of this would ever happen?”
Why is it easier to quote statistics of black-on-black crime as if we’re somehow ok with and unaware of the happenings within our own communities....as if those statistics somehow excuse unnecessary brutality?
Why is it easier to disconnect historic proof from the current realities for some of us? I ask you, have the tendencies of human hearts really changed that much?
If you have been afforded the opportunity of considering these things only from that view-point of thought then may I humbly submit that therein lies the startling difference in our lives....
Oh, don’t get me wrong....I weigh all of those points too. Were they acting criminally? Did they do something to cause their awful plight? Then, my logical, Marine Corps Infantry Officer wife mind steps in and reminds me that it often only takes just 1 bullet to bring a person down....so, why the need for 5, 8, 12, 20, etc? Why the need for overkill? That? That....feels like something else....something I and many others have had no choice but to hone as a “sixth sense” if you will.....that same thing that babies and animals are often said to have cause they are vulnerable enough where they have to almost innately be able to sense when others mean them harm or are up to no good.....that sixth sense I have to have to be able to discern when someone is dealing with me from a place of anger or fear motivated by hate....or worse yet, arrogant indifference. That most painful of reactions that tells me not all lives truly matter.....
When I see other believers write statements saying social justice is only a leftist political idea and doesn’t have any place in the church; the overarching message I am receiving is one that says only certain types of social justice are worthy of our attention. I hear that the types of social justice that matter most to me are no longer in existence and are therefore figments of my imagination only....and too often, I’m hearing this from my siblings in Christ....
This has caused me and many others a very recent crisis of faith. It has caused me to have to rethink who I am, who & where I should serve & worship with and HOW I should serve and worship as well.
How am I to converse with you if you don’t even believe the things I am saying are true? How do I talk to you if you’re so full of defensiveness that the only thing you hear in my words is a guilt-trip? Where do we begin to relate when you tell me race is only an issue because I won’t stop talking about it, but yet, there are others out there who won’t let me forget that I am “different” in their eyes?
How do I serve with you if you tell me that the things with regard to social and ethnic justice that so readily impact my life have absolutely no bearing on our friendship in Christ? Just your saying that leads me to feel as though there’s a very real piece of my identity that you are willfully, albeit perhaps innocently, determined to overlook.
How do I trust you as my friend if your blind spots prove to be hurtful to me...unintentional as that may be; and how do we fellowship if you tell me I’m being hyper-sensitive when I try to share the concerns of my heart?
How do I ever believe you can hear me when the roadblock I’m up against is your telling me to “just get over” the sufferings which are STILL connected to my ethnic identity?
In Dr. John Perkins’ latest book he writes about the trance that God placed Peter in as described in the book of Acts in order to show him the error of his thinking concerning Cornelius, the Roman whom God expressly told him to go and share the gospel with......but, whom we know Peter resisted sharing with at first due to his own prejudice....after all, Cornelius was a Gentile and Peter had never touched anything “unclean.”
Dr. Perkins goes on to hope and surmise that this time and season we find ourselves in within our nation is perhaps the church’s trance.....perhaps God is seeking to do the very same thing in the church here in America that He did for and with Peter so very long ago? I hope with him that he is correct.
He firmly believes that the Black church can’t correct our ills alone; nor can the White, Latino, Asian church, etc....only the collective church of Jesus Christ working together can do this.....and I couldn’t agree more.
My heart has found hope in those amongst my siblings whom I also saw last week who said God had changed their hearts....where they once would’ve been the first to roll their eyes at the slightest mention or notion of racism or social justice; God has now broadened their perspective. Although they were fewer in number than the naysayers, they were there shining like beacons of bright hope to my weary soul.
Funny, but they didn’t seem to feel as though they had lost or given up something in the process....they actually seemed to feel as though they had gained something of the utmost importance.
Although my heart has been heavy, it is also encouraged in the hope that this work God is doing; He will continue to do not just in some of us, but ALL of us! To Him I say...”Have your way, King Jesus! Purify your Bride!”
