This is one of two posts I'm working on with similar titles. This one addresses the issue on the level of the personal, or individual. In the end, I'll probably make it a bit of a journal entry and make it, first and foremost, about me.
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The death, well, MURDER, of George Floyd seems to have brought a sea change to America.
Based on what I'm seeing, even among Facebook friends who are much more geezerly than am I, suddenly, it's sensical to mock the phrase, "all lives matter." Suddenly, very moderate white bread caucasians understand, more than that, sympathize with, peaceful protests for racial justice.
No doubt, the insight of the moment will fade when the next big story overwhelms the 24 hour business cycle,...but, I believe that the U. S. will never revert to its old normal.
So, how will people of the religious body officially bearing the name, Churches of God, General Conference, put the new norm, the new racial sensitivity, into practice. What do we actually DO now?
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Starting with me, I'll say this for myself, with as much humility as I can muster: I don't know.
I'm very intentional about living as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God.
Until I was confined by the tight quarantine imposed on us who live in this retirement community, I made it a point to put myself out into the world where I'd be forced to engage people and be given the opportunity to live out, as Paul describes it in Galatians 6, "the Law of Christ."
Certainly, the quarantine won't last forever and, assuming I survive COVID-19, I'll be able to, once again, live the ambassadorial lifestyle.
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But, I live in a very white culture. This is heavy duty, uh, "Anabaptist-ville." For me, it's a cross-cultural experience, and, certainly, there are some ways that the Amish and Old Order Mennonites are discriminated against and are victims, in their own way, of oppression.
But, no one's going to carry around a sign that says, AMISH LIVES MATTER.
And, the new wisdom now is that black lives really do matter. And, they do.
Bottom line for me? I'm not positioned to easily live out the new insight.
Still, a disciple's life is one that bears fruit in real behavior.
Jesus is clear that, even among those who call Him Lord, only those who do will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
So the question of how to live as a faithful steward of this new understanding it not academic. It has implications for eternity...
...for me, for us all.
Still, as I say, right now, I don't know.
What I will say is that I think that this is a moment where the people who, well, are holders of institutional authority among us, who consider themselves to be leaders, are responsible before the Lord, to show us a way that can be followed.
I wouldn't want to be in that position now because, if I were, at this moment at least, I'd have nothing.
I think that, for me, I'll meditate and pray. And, I will wait for wisdom from those who are servants of the body to show a way.
What I know is that I must repent. Most of us, perhaps all who read this blog, must.
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