Midweek Holiday Connection
Greetings Urban Life Family and Friends,
This has been one of the most difficult seasons we have experienced in our lives. Since the death of one of my brothers in October of 1999, there has been September 11, 2001, losing our building in December of 2005, losing our home in June of 2007, losing dear friends in a long stretch between 2008-2009. Since then, two of my brothers have had heart attacks, my mother has had serious health battles, and more dear friends have passed on.
In the last few months, our hearts have been ripped by the events in Ferguson Missouri. Then just before the verdict, a wonderful brother, friend and mentor, Dr. Myles Munroe, passed away in a plane crash. While still reeling from that loss, the verdict came forth regarding the killing of the teen by a police officer and insult was added to injury.
Since then, as part of my processing, we've vented through our weekly blog, trying to put into words how important it is for our White brothers and sisters to try to understand why so many Black Christians in St. Louis are so upset about the verdict.
As a man born and raised in St. Louis, it is very hard to put into words what it is like growing up there. We actually lived in the Canfield Green Apartments in Ferguson, where this tragic event took place. The racism and struggle there is like something out of a Twilight Zone, horror movie. Outsiders simply cannot understand it and even when told, they rarely believe it. They honestly think that this level of oppression is not possible in this era in America.
But St. Louis is where the infamous Dred Scott decision took place. This is where a federal decision, that considered Black's voting value as 3/5 of a person, was upheld. Dred Scott was not granted freedom with this declaration, 'THE BLACK MAN HAS NO RIGHTS THAT THE WHITE MAN IS BOUND TO RESPECT." And St. Louis lives, thrives, and functions under the foundation of that statement to this very day. Just let that declaration sink into your thoughts before you move on. Imagine trying to accomplish anything under that atmosphere.
So, many of us had to leave that area if we were going to see any success for ourselves and our children.
The past few days, I've seen wonderful post like the one by the football player of the New Orleans Saints. I've read Facebook post that were combative, racist, insensitive, clueless, annoying, irritating, thoughtful, criminal and Biblical.
This is another one of those critical moments where I have to ask myself, What would Jesus do? How would the King of kings and the Lord of lords respond to what is happening in America right now?
He did a lot of great things in those amazing three years of His ministry. But I see that it all was leading to a date on the cross for all of our sins. I look at the cross and I see Jesus, horribly disfigured by the sins of us all. He died for Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson, too.
So what would Jesus do?
We believe He would walk up to Michael Brown's parents and He would hug them. He would cry with them. He would sob and wail with them.
We believe He would go to Darrel Wilson and his family, and He would embrace them, too. He would meet with them behind closed doors. Only officer Wilson knows what really happened and God is well able to get to the bottom of all of this. He did that with a guy named Zacchaeus. The Bible doesn't tell us what happened in that private conversation. We just hear Zacchaeus' response to whatever happened between him and Jesus.
So, we're praying that these people, the ones who are directly involved in the whole situation, will have personal encounters with the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
The rest of us, who are responding out of our negative experiences with local police, Black people, White people, Latino people, Asian people, young people, old people, church people, government people, corruption, racism and violence, need our own personal encounters with God as well.
We admit that we need one. We need a fresh encounter with God. Clearly there is still a lot of hurt and anger buried deep inside of us and God is shaking all of our foundations.
Just look at what He says in Matthew 5:23-24, "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."
We want our hearts to be right toward our brothers. We don't want to allow the racial tension in our nation to continue to tear us apart in the Church.
It's all for the harvest,
Chris and Carol Green
