A Deadly Love Affair...

I spent upwards of two hours last night in a zoom meeting with our Racial Equity Team. The primary purpose of this meeting was to share updates on this year’s process for awarding our Community Racial Equity Scholarship. 

However… moments before signing in, I read the news of a shooting at a Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods, California… not yet knowing that the shooting took place while a Taiwanese congregation gathered there for fellowship. 

I read the news of how this shooter had killed one person and injured others… and how several brave souls rushed the shooter and restrained them, probably saving the lives of many others.

I spoke of my heartbreak to our Team… and noted that as of late it feels as if I am overusing that term. 

Heartbreak

Heartbroken

"It breaks my heart."

It doesn’t matter which way I say it, repeated news of lives taken in this nation as a result of our deadly love affair with guns is heartbreaking.

I offered a prayer as we began our work and then attempted to shift my attention to the task before us… though struggling to do so.

Struggling because the news out of Laguna Woods was sitting precariously upon that which occurred on the previous day… a terrorist attack at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York at the hands of a gun-wielding, self-proclaimed white supremacist.

And it wasn’t long until that event made its way into the Team’s conversation. 

In part, because this is the work we are about… seeking to rid our communities, our nation of the racially-motivated hatred and violence enacted upon our neighbors who are Black, Indigenous and other People of Color. 

This is the work we are about as we seek to educate ourselves and others of the deeply-rooted, systemic racism that fuels the white supremacy culture in which we all exist. 

“Systemic Racism”

“White Supremacy Culture”

Using those terms in a sentence, I fully know that there are those who will read them and scoff… because according to them, these things don’t exist… because they don’t see themselves within the words, when in reality they are. 

We all are. 

As we continued our conversation, a sense of lament entered in. Fully recognizing that in order for the national conversations on race to shift, in order for our firearm love affair to end, we are in need of bringing people together for discussion… yet what we see most often is a gathering of like-minded individuals “preaching to the choir.”

What would it be like to engage in a dialogue with someone who applauds Saturday’s terrorist attack? Because there are some who do.

What would it be like to hold a respectful conversation with someone whose daily fear is that the government is wanting to take their guns away from them? Because many live with this fear.

What would it be like to sit down and discuss openly the hatred and violence that continues to be stoked in our nation against those who are Black, Indigenous or other People of Color?

I honestly don’t know what that would look like, in part because most of those who share a perspective different than mine have refused to sit down for such a conversation.

I'm hoping that will change.

It’s great that we continue to work together to educate ourselves on issues of race. 

It’s great that we strive to be better examples of humanity in the world.

It’s great that so many of us are seeking to live more fully into the faith we claim, especially when it comes to our interactions with those whose lives are different than our own.

And yet… it’s not enough. 

In order to bring about the change that is necessary… the change that will ensure that we never have to read a headline about a white supremacist terrorist attack again… we must all engage in this work. We must all seek to know more, to be better, to live in such a way that exemplifies the love and justice of Jesus.

In order to bring about the change that is necessary, we must be willing to have open and honest conversations about our love of guns and our hatred of those with melanated skin. 

We must be willing to participate in respectful dialogue on issues that currently hold no other value than to keep us divided.

We must understand and admit that we all live within a white supremacy culture, one from which many of us greatly benefit on a daily basis.

We must not shy away from the work of dismantling systemic racism. 

And we must find ways to invite others to sit down at table and hold those conversations with us.

Our Racial Equity Team is committed to this work… and we invite you to be part of it. I invite you to watch for upcoming community dialogues. Attend our meetings. Commit to being uncomfortable in order to grow, and in order to change. 

Because without that commitment... without a willingness to be vulnerable, to be honest with yourself and with others... nothing will change. And too many lives are hanging in the balance waiting for change to come.

Join us in our efforts to heal this broken nation... this broken world. Message me to talk about the next step you need to take.