Rev. Jay Rowland
Romans 6:1b-11 & Gospel of Matthew 10:26-39
I’m haunted by the murder of George Floyd.
I’m haunted by the defiant look, the nonchalance on the face of the Minneapolis police officer who killed him. I’m haunted by the realization that George Floyd is a casualty of the legacy of slavery; the racism and white supremacy that embedded slavery into our nation’s social order from its founding, and which remains in place to this day, unacknowledged, un-confronted and unresolved here in 2020. And so, when I opened my bible to the passages from Romans and from the Gospel of Matthew for today, many of the verses jumped off the page at me and pierced my spirit:
“If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good?” (Romans 6:2)
“Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call!” (Romans 6:7)
“Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.” (Romans 6:11)
“Don’t be intimidated. Eventually, everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now. Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being …” (Jesus, in Matthew 10:26-28b)
“Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you ...” (Jesus in Matthew 10:32)
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth … “ (Jesus in Matt 10:34)
“If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find your (true identity) self. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.” (Matt 10:38b-39)
[from The Message Bible]
Please let me assure you, I’m not interested in heaping guilt on anyone’s heads; I’m not interested in blaming, shaming or moral platitudes; I’m not here to throw righteous salt on anyone’s wounds. But I want to be clear with you about how I feel and what I believe. I believe that racism and the embedded ideology of white supremacy stands in the way of the Kingdom of God. Racism and the ideology of white supremacy defies and opposes the Lord Jesus Christ, his life, death, resurrection and ascension.
After the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was dismantled, the racism and the ideology of white supremacy which justified and upheld slavery for hundreds of years remained unchallenged and unchecked. Ever since then black Americans have been consistently opposed when it comes to enjoying the privileges of citizenship. But we need not let any residual guilt or shame provoke us to avoid or diminish the painful legacy of slavery as it continues to oppress black Americans. It’s important that we don’t take on all of the baggage our ancestors left to us—it’s not our personal fault.
But it is our responsibility to do what we can to help level the playing field our ancestors refused to allow or consider for black people. It is our responsibility to speak and act against the daily humiliation, and the daily persecution, torture and destruction of black bodies, minds and spirits. How many more unarmed black men must die at the hands of white authority before we cry out in solidarity, “ENOUGH!”
White America is blind to the unending menace hounding black folks every day of their lives from childhood through retirement—if they even live that long. I cannot profess to be a minister of the gospel, let alone a follower of Jesus Christ and lover of God while remaining silent about the gigantic, diabolical elephant in the room that is racism. This elephant “sits” unrecognized in every room and community in White America. We must remove the blinders and begin seeing the terrorism which seeks to annihilate every black human being. Ask any black person if they’ve ever been pulled over by the police for no reason. Ask any black parent whether or not they teach their children what to do when—NOT IF—but when the police pull them over.
Too often white folk complain, “why does it always have to be about race?”
The answer is, because for black folks in this nation it IS always about race; because every waking-sleeping- breathing moment of every single day of their lives they’ve been told and shown that they are the wrong color. I consider it my sacred duty as a wanna-be “disciple”, as a follower of and believer in Jesus Chris to stand here today and say the words:
Black Lives Matter.
Period.
To say Black Lives Matter takes NOTHING away from any other lives. It simply affirms the worth of an entire community of people who’ve been pushed down and shot down and chased down, harassed, accused, convicted, insulted, degraded, incarcerated and lynched. George Floyd in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta are the most recent examples. God forbid but there will be others.
Please bear with me, and please hear me out: I’m not condemning all police officers or all white people. I’m not here to spoil anyone’s day or communion with God. But we’ve been sitting out and sitting down too long. It’s time to stand up. The God I meet and the Jesus I meet in the scriptures and in my personal experience stands with every person who is persecuted and oppressed. Jesus was himself harassed, and arrested, and tortured and killed by the human forces of oppression. Jesus was raised by God from death and from the human-inflicted oppression and rejection and terrorism. Jesus was raised by God the Creator and the Author of Love and Life, in order to show us where God stands when it comes to sin and death and persecution and oppression—all of which are present in the sin of racism and white supremacy.
Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel today, Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now. Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies (Matthew 10:26-28a—The Message Bible). This is my public acknowledgment in my faith community that the ideology of white supremacy remains enmeshed in American society and continues to energize racism, oppose, injure, and kill black people.
I don’t expect everyone in this community or church to agree with me. But I will do what I can to engage the legacy of slavery and racism--to move toward it, rather than run away from it, resisting the temptation to become defensive or non-participatory. We practice Courageous Faith to oppose racism. We can stand with our black sisters & brothers as Compassionate Witnesses to their pain and suffering. This is only the beginning, admittedly small but important first steps we can take together to toward a more compassionate and supportive presence with black people in America.
I believe this is how we can move toward the Kingdom of God which is forever reaching out to and moving toward us through Jesus Christ. I’m hopeful that as we admit we don’t fully understand the legacy of slavery and the realities of racism, we shall begin to move toward reconciliation with our black sisters and brothers. Because I believe that every injury, every death, every humiliation of every person of color at the hands of white authority defies the Kingdom of God that Jesus lived, died and was raised to reveal.
After the flames burned out and the smoke cleared from Minneapolis and other cities which erupted in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, someone shared an old African proverb with me: “The child that is not embraced by their village will burn it down to feel the warmth.”
We all agree that riots and destruction only make a bad situation worse. We all agree that burning down the village is not the answer. But do we have the courage to admit we have not experienced generations of alienation in our own nation, city, neighborhood, back yard or home? Without that experience, we do not understand or accept the impulsive reactions of broken human beings.
But rather than let uncommon incidents further divide us, I propose we try to find common ground in the complexity of our own human experience. Take some time to think deeply. I wonder how many of us have ever experienced being rejected, threatened, shamed, felt unsafe with the police. I wonder how many of us have been physically or emotionally violated by a person who is supposed to protect and nurture us. I wonder how many of us have experienced the dis-embrace of the village, whether that village is that of family, friend group, school, team, a valued organization or interest group—the village you longed to inhabit.
It’s important to consider or at least sympathize with the intense spiritual damage inflicted upon human beings by persons who abuse their authority. Especially when it is repeated. People who are traumatized and re-traumatized are forced to bury or compartmentalize the intense feelings of a physical and emotional violation in order to function and survive in daily society. We all have the capacity to do what we have to to “survive”. But at the same time, we are all equally capable of acting out aggression, even emotional or physical violence as part of that survival instinct—it’s built into our nervous system.
We can perhaps also imagine how such an intense injury can also trigger self-condemnation and self-loathing—beneath the intense anger or rage there could also be self-doubt which festers over time and eats away at a person’s esteem. Unless or until it is met by another human being who shows compassionate witness and nurture or therapeutic intervention and treatment.
Perhaps we can imagine how broken human beings, broken by an injury inflicted by another human being(s) might begin to see themselves as unlovable, as unworthy of anyone’s care, as defective, or as deserving the injury. Perhaps we might be able to image how under such circumstances someone might start getting the message that they don’t matter, not even to God.
We cannot fully or properly understand the full impact of the pain experienced by people of color in our country. But we can seek to understand or offer compassionate witness to their pain rather than reject or deny it or otherwise diminish another’s experience. If we can learn to move toward another’s experience of injustice or trauma, allow ourselves to feel and endure being uncomfortable but present with another’s anger and trauma and intense feelings, we can begin to redefine community and refine our village’s capacity to nurture.
We all have good medicine inside of us, compassionate witness and courageous faith which can become a vaccine for the lethal virus of racism which has daily infected our society and our villages. I’m encouraged to see more and more people standing up against racism after generations of remaining seated; more and more people crying out against racism after generations of silence. This is what I hear when I hear Jesus say in the gospel of Matthew, Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you ... (Matthew 10:32) and Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth … (Matt 10:34) and If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find your (true identity) self. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both your true identity and Me. (Matt 10:38b-39)
I hear Paul’s Christian witness vibrantly apply to racism when and white supremacy when he says, Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! (Romans 6:7), and Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did. (Romans 6:11)
Each of us has good medicine we can apply to the gaping wound racism has inflicted upon too many people--black & white—for too long. Each one of us has an important role in creating a village where every child is embraced and protected by their village. The world and village we believe in and long for every time we pray, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.
To learn about racism and the experience of black people in America, listen to a talk given in 2014 by Bryan Stevenson at the Westminster Presbyterian Church (Minneapolis) Town Hall Forum … just click the link below:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/15/bryan-stevenson-westminster-forum
Learn about racism and the experience of black people in Minnesota, check these links:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-05/revealing-the-divisive-history-of-minneapolis
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2001/06/lynching
