Recently, some people have been asking me for my thoughts on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. I think it's natural for people to want to talk with me because I have intentionally chosen to live in an African-American neighborhood and I serve as a pastor at an intentionally multi-ethnic church. I do have a lot to say about what is going on in our country, but I also have a lot of listening to do. Right now I'm listening a lot. I'm also praying and reflecting. I won't stop there, though. Out of listening, prayer, reflection, and dialogue comes action. It is important for followers of Jesus Christ to listen, pray, reflect, talk, and act because Christians should be leading the way in reconciling human beings to one another. If we are truly reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, then our purpose as God's church is to be a part of God's redemptive mission.
God's redemptive mission, reconciling human beings to God and to one another, was important to Jesus. In the book of John in the Bible, Jesus prays for the disciples that he will be sending out to accomplish his purposes once he is gone. Jesus also prays for all human beings to be reconciled to God and to one another. In referencing his disciples and all humanity, Jesus prayed, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:20-24 ESV)
God's desire is for all of us to "become perfectly one." God is always on a mission to reconcile us to God and to one another. We were made to be in community with one another. There is no "us" versus "them" in the Kingdom of God. There is only "we" doing life together with one another empowered by the Holy Spirit to transcend all of the barriers that would keep us apart. If anyone has a message of hope in a country that has deep ethnic, political, economic, and social divisions, it is followers of Jesus Christ. We should be leading the way in listening, praying, reflecting, discussing, healing, and acting toward a more unified world. Let's have the hard conversations. Let's take bold actions that lead to a more just world. Let's demonstrate the profound love of Christ in a world that desperately needs to discern how to love each other in the midst of trying times. The love of God is strong enough to transcend individual and system sin and brokenness in our culture.
God's redemptive mission, reconciling human beings to God and to one another, was important to Jesus. In the book of John in the Bible, Jesus prays for the disciples that he will be sending out to accomplish his purposes once he is gone. Jesus also prays for all human beings to be reconciled to God and to one another. In referencing his disciples and all humanity, Jesus prayed, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:20-24 ESV)
God's desire is for all of us to "become perfectly one." God is always on a mission to reconcile us to God and to one another. We were made to be in community with one another. There is no "us" versus "them" in the Kingdom of God. There is only "we" doing life together with one another empowered by the Holy Spirit to transcend all of the barriers that would keep us apart. If anyone has a message of hope in a country that has deep ethnic, political, economic, and social divisions, it is followers of Jesus Christ. We should be leading the way in listening, praying, reflecting, discussing, healing, and acting toward a more unified world. Let's have the hard conversations. Let's take bold actions that lead to a more just world. Let's demonstrate the profound love of Christ in a world that desperately needs to discern how to love each other in the midst of trying times. The love of God is strong enough to transcend individual and system sin and brokenness in our culture.
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