What Are We Gonna Do!?!?

Jesus said “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” (Matthew 5:11)

So how is the church to respond to the events in Charlottesville this past Saturday, and the resulting fallout? Expressions of outrage? Dismay? Utter disgust? Condemnations “in the strongest possible terms”? Of course any and all of these should be PART of our response...but let’s be honest – that's the shallow end of the pool.

The important thing, the thing that supersedes our verbal responses – the only thing that really matters – is our response to the question “What are we gonna DO?” And here’s the harder truth, which is wedded to this seemingly simple question: traditionally black and brown churches responding to this event (and all others like it) by saying and doing things is not enough. Until the mainstream, traditionally white churches step up, speak up and show up in numbers, we can EXPECT to see more Charlottesvilles....yes, we can expect it. Why should we “expect” to experience more of this ugliness? Because what we are witnessing has been bubbling below the surface; it’s been lurking in the shadows for many decades. This is what happens when you turn over a rock in a dark, dank place – you find all manner of ugly things creeping and crawling in the muck. They’ve been there all along, just not exposed until their cover is removed.

Perhaps even more challenging to the Christian in times and circumstances like these is to do what Christ said: “But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you.”  (Matthew 5:44) It’s easy to try and justify actions other than His prescription by making statements like “God’s not finished with me yet”, or declaring in no uncertain terms that “My name ain’t Jesus!” However, none of these retorts change what it is He has called us to DO.

Now, for those who might not even try because they feel this is over-spiritualization in the midst of real-world circumstances, take heart in the fact that we are not called to lay down – we can still meet the ugly, cowardly, heinous acts of the perpetrators of Charlottesville, etc., with definitive action! We are, after all, also called to seek justice. This deplorable act is a call to action for the church to DO something. No, not a national movement type of “something”; do something as local churches. And be deliberate about doing your “something” together with other churches where most of the people at the other churches don’t look like most of the people at your church. In the same way Nehemiah set out to repair what was destroyed in his country, if want to see change, it’s time for a shift in our mindset:

“We kept at it, repairing and rebuilding the wall. The whole wall was soon joined together and halfway to its intended height because the people had a heart for the work.” (Nehemiah 4:6)