“I am exhausted.”
I wrote these words this time last year as I was, like so many of you, overwhelmed by the nonstop media coverage about the murder of George Floyd.
Even though I wanted to know what was going on, after some many days of the continuous coverage, I was emotionally and spiritually worn out. There were images from Minneapolis and throughout the nation of protesters, police kneeling in solidarity with protestors and police attacking protestors. The crazy part is that I knew watching these images and seeing the many posts on social media (including family members deleting and blocking each other!!!) was probably not the best use of my time. I watched anyway.
When Sundays came, I was happy because I needed a virtual word of encouragement from my pastor on how to navigate all that was going on. A few times, he addressed the protests as part of a sermon. He emphasized that, when confronted with injustice, Christians needed to respond with Christ-like love. I agree.
“When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.” Proverbs 21:5
But I found myself wanting to hear more about justice and Christianity. I had to ask myself: why am I getting frustrated? After praying about it, I realized that I believe that showing Christian love is a part of the solution in dealing with injustice. But I do not think it is the only answer. The call for justice must also be a part of the solution.
So, I ask Black Pastors: what are you doing to equip your Black Christian church members on how to deal with the current racial and political environment? Teaching Christians reconciliation during times of extreme division is important but there can also be teachings on justice.
Proverbs 21:5 says, “When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.”
Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Proverbs 22:8 says, “Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.”
Depending on the version the Bible, there are between 28 (King James) and 167 (New Living) references to justice/injustice within its pages. With these many references, justice was obviously important to God.
In May of 2020, I watched an online lesson from Pastor Claudette Copeland who shared that, even though oppression against Jews was increasing in Nazi Germany in the early 1930’s, there were Jewish people who believed that things would not get that bad. They stayed in Germany, and many perished in the concentration camps.
Many of those who were alarmed with what they saw left. They foresaw what was to come.
Many Christians were shocked by the violence of the Jan. 6th Capital insurrection. Those paying attention to social media, and were spiritually in tune, knew exactly what was going to take place. This makes me wonder if pastors who teach only love and reconciliation during this time as the solution to racial and social injustice are naively leaving their Black church members unprepared for what is to come.
The Rev. James Washington’s Spiritually Speaking commentary will return next week.
Shewanda Riley is a Dallas-based author of “Writing to the Beat of God’s Heart: A Book of Prayers for Writers.”