Privilege and Apathy

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -MLK, Jr.

Paul's "New Creation" fragment from last week seems so long ago and very far away from where we are today. The deaths of unarmed, innocent individuals at a prayer meeting in Charleston once again reveals the depths of the system of sin - racism that still runs rampant - in which we are complicit. 

Simultaneous privilege and apathy prove a toxic cocktail of inundated FB news feeds and, if the past is any indication, weeks later, there will be a return to the normal inane programming that is frequently more compelling than reaching out to others, than prayer, than study. But this isn't normal. These behaviors are not normal. It is not normal for Christians to look at other humans with apathy; to do so is a negation of the Gospel. It is a negation of Christ's words, "This is my body, given for you," because these words preclude apathetic responses to violence or suffering; rather, they demand we stand in the way of violence and suffering. 

As the deep groans come from the community of Mother Emanuel AME, they had the courage to preach the Gospel in the least likely of places: "We forgive you." In the echoes of white privilege's demands for justice and bloodshed in the name of justice, the words of the families of those martyred preach a more powerful sermon than I will ever write. This forgiveness comes before the trial and sentencing, before repentance, in the midst of mourning. In the place that it is least likely for the Gospel to be found, it comes: in the midst of the storm, it comes. It comes from the ones who I cannot imagine offering forgiveness at a time like this, challenging our demands for justice and demanding from us righteousness instead.