Like many of you, my heart is heavy with the weight of what
is happening in our country right now.
And, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how I should respond – and,
more specifically how I as a Christian should respond. And, I don’t really have a good answer
yet. Some say that we should pray – and
we should. But, I don’t think that’s
enough. I think that this situation
requires action. Some say we should
engage in the political process – and we should. But, that’s complicated. Some say we should condemn the actions of the
white supremacists, and we should. But,
we can’t do that in such a way that we respond to hatred with more hatred.
While I don’t have all of the answers, I do have a few
thoughts…
First, try as we might, we’ll never be able to “legislate
away” racism and hatred. It doesn’t
matter who gets elected president or what laws get passed or what statues get
torn down. The reality is that hatred is
rooted deep in the heart. Luke 6:45
says, “A good person produces good things
from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from
the treasury of an evil heart. What you
say flows from what is in your heart.”
Hatred and prejudice and racism flow from the heart. They don’t flow from the government or the
environment in which you live or even from the color of your skin. The events that unfolded in Charlottesville
this week were birthed out of the evil in the hearts of the protestors. As a nation, we can, and we should, take
steps to move us away from hatred and towards unity and equality. But, it will never happen until we address
the issue of the heart.
Second, no matter how evil or vile or hateful
the behavior, we always have to respond from a position of love. The Bible is pretty clear about this point. Christ’s
love compels us to love others (even – or especially – our enemies). Romans 12:17-21 says it this way: “Never
pay back evil with more evil. Do things
in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to
live in peace with everyone. Dear
friends, never take revenge. Leave that
to the righteous anger of God. For the
Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back,’ says the Lord. Instead, ‘If your enemies are hungry, feed
them. If they are thirsty, give them
something to drink. In doing this, you
will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.’ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil
by doing good.”
So, how do we do that from a practical perspective? I think one way is to dial back the
rhetoric. There has to be a way to have
a civil dialog about the issues without resorting to all of the name calling
that seems to be spewing from every side.
We obviously have to condemn the hateful actions of white supremacist
groups, but when we move from there to pointing fingers at our friends on
Facebook and hurling insults at people who have a different political
affiliation, we are just making room for hate to strengthen its grip. The bottom line is that whatever we’re doing
as a country right now just doesn’t seem to be working. What if we took a radical cue from the
teachings of Jesus and tried to find a way to love our enemies? What if we not only prayed for the victims
but also for the haters? What if,
instead of calling them names, we offered them a cup of cold water? What if
that’s the key to changing the heart…
Which brings me to my last (and perhaps most
important) point: We have to engage on a
personal level. And, I don’t mean
joining in on the protests or counter-protests.
The more I think about it, the more I believe that healing will only
come to our hearts and to our nation if we, as individuals, engage with other
individuals who are different from us.
We need to spend time with people who have skin that is a different
color from ours. We need to worship with
those who come from different cultures.
We need to eat a meal with those who come at life from a different
perspective. We need to reach across
social and political and economic boundaries to develop real friendships with
real people who are different from us.
When you really get to know someone on a personal level – when you enter
into their world with the goal of understanding – it becomes much harder to
hate and much easier to love.
I have a vivid memory from my teenaged years. I was driving home on some back country roads
late one evening, and I passed a KKK rally that was happening in a field not
too far from my home. It was like a
scene out of a movie – a big bonfire with a circle of men in white hoods
circled around it. It terrified me. The image is burned into my mind. When I saw the pictures of the
Charlottesville protestors marching through town with their torches, my mind
flashed back to that memory – and it made me sick. I thought we had come further. I thought we were passed the days when this
kind of hatred could be put on public display.
I thought we had changed.
But, the truth is that we haven’t changed. All of us have buried deep within us the
potential for evil – the propensity to hate.
But, I have good news. Love
triumphs over hate every time. Love
wins.
In the words of Jesus:
“ I have
told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have
many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
– John 16:33
