For Such a Time as This

On the night He was arrested, Jesus prayed to the Father, “that they may be one, even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You…so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:21) The way believers would show Jesus to the world (just as Jesus showed God to the world) would be in how we love each other.

In thinking about the current unrest in our country, the Lord has impressed on me that the Church can have a huge impact on the world in this time–simply by loving each other well. We should be leading the way to reconciliation and bearing each other’s burdens.

The world doesn’t want to hear it…it needs to SEE it.

Racial differences are nothing new to the Church. There was a serious divide between Jew and Gentile right from the start. Paul addressed that several times in his letters, but Ephesians was his strongest statement. There was division between varied cultures, varied backgrounds, varied sets of experiences. But they were one in Christ all the same. Division has no place in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Love means putting ourselves (our opinions, our defensiveness) aside in the interest of others.

It means bearing each other’s burdens. It seems to me that this begins when we stop trying to justify ourselves and start listening to the pain, fear, and anger of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Open our hearts to their experiences and concerns. It’s only when we listen that we can begin to have true empathy.We can only bear each others’ burdens when we endeavor to walk in their shoes.

And when we do hear each other, we can begin to love in a way that will astonish the world. It starts with each of us as individuals. Asking God to alert us to the ways our hearts are hardened and to change us from the inside out. That’s where it must begin.

Thank you to each of my brothers and sisters of color who have written or filmed responses to the current situation. You are helping those of us who have not shared the injustice you face every day understand. The Church needs you–we have far to go. But it’s a start.