What. A. Week.
Joy and sorrow have abounded in equal measure; tears flowing with both. Anger has been ignited by bold injustice and raged unabated like a hungry forest fire, fed by centuries of racial trauma which has been passed down through bloodlines and the stories lived, remembered and told from one generation to the next. Confusion has been equally present as, for many, people and places that once felt safe and comfortable have been revealed as questionable, and the hope that the new year gingerly brought with it has left many hearts shattered.
I, for one, have run the gamut of emotions this week with each new headline, story and image that has grabbed my attention. From the elation felt on Wednesday morning at the news that Georgia had elected their first ever black senator, Rev. Raphael Warnock. To then that afternoon witnessing crowds of violent Trump supporters force their way into the Capitol Building causing the deaths of four people, and bringing about a momentary halt to Congress’ process of certifying Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. This country has hardly felt peaceful, and the Church has certainly not presented itself as unified.
Images from the Trump rallies that day surfaced showing ‘Jesus Saves’ and ‘Jesus 2020’ banners alongside a hangman’s gallows - a hideous symbol of public lynching - in front of the Capitol Building. Videos taken during the attack capture scenes of arrogance, hatred and racism including one of the mob dragging a police officer out of the building and repeatedly beating him with anything they could lay their hands on. I had to stop watching as my spirt and heart became overwhelmed, sickened, by the level of depravity I was witnessing. What was happening and how did Jesus get twisted up in this mess?!
I’ve never known life without the involvement of church, faith and God. I wouldn’t be where and who I am today without them. I was raised in a home where God was known and honored and church was our community; where justice was married to faith, and love was the action we were to respond to everybody with. Nothing in my understanding of who God is and what we reference as His Kingdom has enabled me to be able to reconcile that with this display of behavior coming from these crowds of people professing the same faith as me.
My anger felt like it was breaking me - dark and consuming, messy and unholy. It burst out in a nighttime display of passive aggression followed by broken sobs, inevitably giving way to healing tears. As I spoke with a friend the following day, confessing the darkest of my thoughts and seeking wisdom and encouragement, she reminded me that anger isn’t always unholy and what appears chaotic can be a part of the sifting process needed to get us to where we’re meant to be. We are each wired with passions that cause us to lean into different aspects of the same situation. Mine is justice, or injustice if you will.
There has been a lot stirring in me the last few weeks, questions that I’ve been wrestling with and options that I’ve been pondering. In amongst the mess of this week, I feel like I’ve gained a little bit of clarity with this justice piece. I’ve come to realize that for the past several years my focus has been pulled into a couple of different directions - necessarily so for the season and needed for my growth - but this activist part of me is now fully done with being sat on the sidelines.
A new friend of mine, Tyra Nicole , wrote a blog this weekend which you should definitely read if you too find yourself as an observer of injustice and wondering how to respond. In order to see our world change we all have to play our part.
We can become ACTIVE bystanders–people who [safely] intervene in situations where someone is being victimized.
This realization comes with a fresh injection of hope for me, and may you too receive it as you read this:
Your anger isn’t unholy, it’s a mandate. Seek justice and choose mercy; walk in humility and choose love; pull righteousness off the sidelines and be a mouthpiece for truth; shake off fear and apathy, and embrace the fiery passion that comes with action!
