Hello Ren Family,
Last Sunday I shared my heart regarding the recent incidents of police violence against people of color. From what I can tell, the response has been very positive. I received more emails, texts, social media comments in the last week probably than any other week of my life. I’m encouraged by that and feel hopeful that change is in the air! If you missed the talk you can either watch it or read the written version here.
I intended on resuming our sermon series on the book of Ephesians but about the middle of this week I felt moved to stay on the theme of racial justice. I’ve been reading a lot and watching a lot of content lately and trying to get perspectives from every angle. Listening to a black pastor (TD Jakes) share his story this week with Hillsong NYC pastor (Carl Lenz) left me undone. I admit that there is so much suffering in the world that I can hear about and feel numb to. But when I listened to this pastor, it was as if the Lord Himself was helping me to understand and feel empathy. In one point of the conversation the pastor was talking about the parable of the Good Samaritan and it became the seed for this week's sermon.
As I shared last week, I want us, the Ren community, to be on the right side of humans rights, always. There is so much confusion in the American Church right now. Christianity and politics have become so mixed together. There are powerful currents of political hate—coming from every side. There are powerful Christian leaders that, sadly, are undermining the cries of those who are oppressed and even calling it a “false narrative”. I’m saddened by this, not just because of how it divides the Church, but because it is profoundly hurtful to the black community.
What is needed more than anything as opinions fly from every side and many are claiming to give us a biblical perspective on race relations, is simplicity. What seems to be happening is that the stories of injustice towards black and brown people are getting drowned out by the debates on reform strategy. In other words, people are talking more about the right or wrong of defunding police or whether protests are good. There’s a time and place to discuss strategies for reform. Absolutely. But as Christians, we should take seriously the testimonies of people who have suffered. And at least speak out against racism. That should be our simple unified posture in a time like this.
Haven’t we learned how wrong it is to downplay the suffering of others with the #metoo movement? For years, women would be exploited, sexually pressured or raped and no one would take them seriously. Many women wouldn’t even speak up about it because they would not be believed, which would add pain to pain. As a society, it seemed like we were learning to take a person's testimony to heart.
How many stories of black people being mistreated do we need to hear before we start believing them?
I don’t mind if some of us have different opinions about what police reform looks like or how far is too far with protests. We can have different opinions about how to dismantle systemic racism. Eradicating racism is no less complicated than eradicating poverty. But what we cannot afford to disagree on is that the black and brown community is hurting and we are called to hurt with them. We can not afford to disagree that their lives matter deeply and that for centuries in our nation they have been mistreated. We can not afford to disagree that part of what it means to be Christian is to love our neighbor and to promote justice. Finding solutions to reform police and dismantle racism on every level of society is complicated but knowing God’s heart is simple. Let’s keep it simple and build our unity around what we know about God, namely, that He is a fierce advocate for those who are oppressed.