Sitting in front of the TV, I watched in dismay as footage of angry mobs rioting and looting flashed across the screen. It was April of 1992 and I was finishing my last quarter at UCLA. Four police officers had just been acquitted for usage of excessive force in the arrest and beating of an African American man named Rodney King. Although the riots were several miles away, the smell of smoke from burning buildings wafted into the window on that warm, spring evening. Living in huge, multi-ethnic city like Los Angeles had been an eye-opening experience for a suburban girl like me. It had been both exhilarating and exhausting.
Less than a year later, I found myself driving into one of the neighborhoods where the looting and rioting had been severe. Charred buildings and boarded up storefronts still punctuated the city blocks as the neighborhood struggled to rebuild. Now in graduate school, I’d been assigned to do my student teaching at a large high school in the heart of this neighborhood. Pulling in that first day, a guard at the school’s entrance rolled back the chain-link fence to let me into the parking lot. As I walked on campus, the color of my light skin seemed to draw the attention of many eyes. A few of the other student teachers, faculty and staff members shared my ethnicity, but not a single student on campus did.
My semester teaching at that high school was one of the most intense seasons in my life. Not only was I learning how to manage classrooms of students while teaching 10th grade English and 12th grade Writing Composition, I was also encountering hard truths about racial tension and inequality. Issues that had created shocking news stories on TV a few months earlier became personally relevant as I got to know my students and saw the reality of their lives.
After mornings of teaching, afternoons of graduate classes, and evenings of lesson planning, I would lie in bed at night with a clenched jaw. I wrestled with feelings of frustration, helplessness, and discouragement. It was a struggle to find ways to get students to come to class consistently, let alone do their assignments. The more I got to know them, the more I began to see how tangled and complicated their situations were. I felt powerless in the face of the broader social issues that plagued my students, but I did my best to connect with them and teach them how to read critically and to write thoughtfully. Some students warmed up to me, others remained at a cool distance. In those months, I learned how to teach, but I also gained a new understanding and sensitivity for people of color with struggles and challenges that I’d never experienced personally.
Memories of that time have been at the forefront of my mind as protests and riots fueled by racial injustice and senseless deaths have dominated the news recently. Those old feelings of frustration, helplessness, and discouragement have resurfaced. The tangled and complicated situations I saw as a student teacher haven’t gotten any better. It’s so overwhelming and exhausting, I’m tempted to disengage. However, as a committed follower of Jesus, I don’t have the luxury of tuning out.
This week I’ve been studying Philippians 2:3-4, which includes these challenging words: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (NIV) I don’t see anything in there that gives permission to turn a blind eye to the racial injustices that have plagued our nation and reached a boiling point. It’s a delicate and uncomfortable topic that can no longer be avoided. This isn’t a Black problem, it’s an issue we need to care about as a nation, and especially as followers of Jesus.
I wish I had a simple solution or action point, but I don’t. Here’s what I do know: Jesus is the answer to every problem we face. He is the cure to the sin that is manifesting itself in so many ugly ways in our nation right now. I keep coming back to a quote by A.W. Tozer: “As God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems are solved all at once.” And that leads me to the two greatest commandments in Scripture: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27, NIV) Imagine what our world would look like if loving God was our highest priority and loving our neighbors (which means all people) was how we showed this.
If, like me, you’re struggling with how to respond in this time of unrest and tension, may I humbly and respectfully offer some starting points?
- Seek wisdom from godly, biblical leaders rather than relying on news headlines (see my suggestions at the end of this post). Commit to listening and learning before reacting. And keep pursuing knowledge and understanding even when upsetting headlines no longer dominate the news cycle.
- Ask trustworthy people to dialogue with you about what you’re learning and how you’re being challenged.
- Process your thoughts and feelings with God. Share with Him honestly. Invite Him to speak to you through His Word to show you how to respond in your attitude and actions.
Here are passages from Scripture that have been shaping my prayers recently:
Psalm 139: 23-24: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” We can tell God what is on our hearts and identify anxious thoughts in our minds related to current events. Be bold and ask Him to show you any blind spots you have that are hurtful towards others– especially regarding race. Confess anything He shows you. Thank Him for helping you to see what needs changing so that you can grow closer to Him and be an agent of reconciliation with others.
2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Once we’ve humbled ourselves and confessed our sin, we’re ready to pray for our community, our nation, and our world. Pray for others who need to humble themselves, seek God’s face, and turn from evil. Pray that people will desire to surrender their sin to God and that they will look to Him to heal the hurts in our nation and world. Whenenver you see gut-wrenching headlines, let them prompt you to pray for the people involved.
Luke 6:37, 41-42:“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven…Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Ask God to show you where you’re judging others and magnifying their faults—especially those who have differing opinions and reactions. Pray for a forgiving heart. Pray that God would be at work in others to help them examine themselves and turn from sinful attitudes and behaviors. Pray for people in our nation to have hearts willing to forgive and heal.
Daniel 9:18-19 “Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” Let’s pray for God to show His mercy and to intervene in the midst of racial strife. Our real enemy isn’t social injustice, police brutality, racism, poverty, or violence. Those are merely tools the devil uses to cause chaos, hatred, division, and distress in our world. Let’s ask the Lord to forgive us and to bring hope, peace, healing, and reconciliation to our hurting nation for the sake of His glory.
Invite the Lord to speak to you through these passages and to show you how to respond. Consider using some of the resources below to help you listen and learn. Just start with one. Praying, educating yourself, and sharing with others are simple actions that have powerful consequences.
Watch or Listen:
- Pause. Listen. Pray. CPC Pastor Tyler Scott, Earl Smith & Miles McPherson. Click here to watch now.
- IF:TV. Jennie Allen’s conversation about racial reconciliation with LaTasha Morrison and Mike Kelsey on Wed. June 10. Click here for more information and to find additional resources.
- Fuller Seminary President, Mark Labberton’s candid conversation with Dr. Dwight Radcliff. Click here to watch now.
Read:
- The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation by Miles McPherson and Drew Brees
- Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race. Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us. by Benjamin Watson and Ken Petersen