Reflections (numb)

The last 72 hours have left me feeling numb.  In the middle of everything else we are going through as a people, the George Floyd killing was a match thrown on simmering anger, pain, and distrust.  Many use helpful words to relate their emotions.  Anger.  Outrage.  Pain.  I keep looking for the right words but have nothing to add.  It leaves me feeling numb.

I am numbed by the reality that we have been seeking to heal and improve race relations for decades.  A book that I found very helpful and formative was Charles Marsh's, "God's Long Summer".  Marsh shares stories of faith and civil rights.  The setting is Mississippi in 1964.  It was a long, deadly summer with violence against blacks happening at an alarming rate.  

My generation did not effect the needed change after 1964.

I was a teenage in 1968.  That was a very long, hot summer.  The nation was deeply, angrily, and violently divided over the Viet Nam War.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.  Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.  In looking back, I am amazed the nation survived 1968.  But we did not resolve the racial discrepancies in America.  One again, my generation, I, failed.

In 1992 Rodney King was brutally beaten.  Our country was in an uproar.  We failed to resolve our racial divides.  

We can go on and on and on.

Numb.

Ahmad Arbery.

Breonna Taylor

George Floyd.

Here we are.

We are in a global pandemic.  We are divided over coronavirus.  We are divided over racial issues.  We are divided over people.  We are divided among God's people.

I have given my life to preaching the "unsearchable riches" of Christ.  This is a message of reconciliation.  It is a message of love and grace.  It is a message of faith.  It is a Gospel of life.  

Still, my generation - I - have failed to resolve our racial divisions.

But I have hope.  I look to our young people.  I look to my own kids.  They are so far ahead of where I was at that stage in life it cannot be compared.  I look at our younger staff members at church.  They are so much more attuned to race issues and simply refuse to discriminate.  

I look at other areas of our culture.  Patrick Mahomes would have us look into the locker room where everyone, regardless of color or who they are, are family.

I believe the Church will one day catch up with the sports world.  Is that not a ridiculous sounding statement?

I believe our emerging generations will succeed where my generation has failed.

I choose to hope.

I choose to examine my own heart.

I choose to treat people as I know Jesus treats people.

I choose to support and encourage those who step up to make a difference today.

The numbness begins to leave as exercise kicks in.

This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

steve