A month or so ago, I made a comment during my sermon on politics that my faith compels me to be both Pro Life and Pro Black Lives Matter. The comment generated a decent amount of both thankfulness and criticism, primarily as it related to very real issues BLM is surfacing in our culture and the “official” BLM organization (that even some of my friends who are involved with BLM have problems with) respectively. I have met with and continue to meet with people on both sides of the argument (which is unfortunately a descriptive word) to try to understand how to pastor a wide variety of people who are feeling pain (seemingly at the hands of the other people I pastor).
Today’s Friday Random Linkness is a few links to pieces that have been helpful for me as I continue to try to wrestle with the racial tensions in our society and figure out where my blindspots are.
Black Lives Matter and the Christian Response
This podcast does a good job unraveling the whole thing in a biblically faithful manner. As I listened to it, I realized I haven’t been as careful as I should have been in discerning between the two. As one of the hosts (Jemar Tisby) said, “we have to be careful about what we are unintentionally communicating.” That was a good reminder to me.
Police, Protesters, and All The Wrong Questions
Sometimes, we have to remember to ask the questions behind the questions.
Two Encouragements
Finally, here’s a thought from my friend Mike Hanafee (who pastors in inner-city Detroit):
“Can I encourage all my white friends to empathize with and not hyper analyze the pain of blacks – to not do so only widens the gap instead of building a bridge.
“Can I encourage all my black friends to not implicate every white person with injustice – to do so only widens the gap instead of building a bridge.”
And because this FRL thing is supposed to be random, I leave you with this:
Cooley Law School Stadium Transforms Into a Golf Course
Looking for something to do this weekend? How about mini golf on a baseball diamond? Invite someone you disagree with and enjoy a bit of sport together.
[UPDATE – On 9/24/16, I clarified a bit of confusing language in the first paragraph.]