In this interview from the Reformed African American Network, the interviewer asks a Reformed pastor in Ferguson: “Why are African Americans so upset?”
Her answer? African-American lives are consistently devalued. African Americans in Ferguson feel betrayed by the police, the very people who are supposed to protect them. They’re tired of seeing the same story play itself out over and over again.
This reminds me of something that my friend Mike is always saying: "Reconciliation with indigenous peoples is about the integrity of the church." If Christians aren't applying the Gospel to situations that create marginalization and oppression in our backyards, then the Gospel isn't being lived. Period.
As Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile writes, “We want a living, breathing, risk-taking brotherhood in the Gospel lived out where it matters. Until evangelicalism can muster that kind of courage and abandon its privileged, “objective,” distant calls for calm and “gospel”-this or “gospel”-that, it proves itself entirely inadequate for a people who need to see Jesus through the tear gas smoke of injustice.”
What’s interesting about all this is that we’re only talking about two ethnic groups in Ferguson. If we start digging just little more - no need to go much deeper - think about all the 57,000 children who are crossing the USA's southern border. The devaluing of their lives keeps us from seeing these children at the border in the same light as we see whoever in our family first landed on these shores.
The church should have a voice against these systemic forms of racism, not a passive one, but one that is active and loud enough that everybody can hear. The church is called to go against the current, to speak and be justice where there’s injustice. Why the church is so afraid to do that? Have we forgotten its purpose and reason? Jesus was rejected, criticized, and even murdered because he pointed the finger where it hurts.
Words have their place. Here we are, writing words. Words can change attitudes, bring awareness, start conversations, change conversations. We believe words have power. But how are we standing with our racialized sisters and brothers in the places of their pain? How are we putting ourselves on the line? If we aren't putting ourselves on the line, perhaps it's the integrity of the Church that's on the line.
The full article is available here
