* These remarks were given at Hunter Road Bible Church on Sunday, July 10, 2016,
Our entire country has been saddened, angered, and filled with grief this past week because of the recent shootings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and Dallas, Texas. During the past week, I have read probably thousands of Facebook comments, Tweets, and online articles about the shootings. I spent two hours sitting and listening to fellow pastors talk about the issue and what our response as ministers should be. I have stayed up nights praying for the safety of my brother, a police officer in Missouri.
Our entire country has been saddened, angered, and filled with grief this past week because of the recent shootings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and Dallas, Texas. During the past week, I have read probably thousands of Facebook comments, Tweets, and online articles about the shootings. I spent two hours sitting and listening to fellow pastors talk about the issue and what our response as ministers should be. I have stayed up nights praying for the safety of my brother, a police officer in Missouri.
I have refrained from commenting on the violence until now. There are 3 statements that need to be made:
ALL LIVES MATTER
All lives matter. I have avoided posting this online because many will take that statement to mean that I disregard racism and systemic injustices that are realities within our nation. When I say All Lives Matter, I mean nothing other than this: Black Lives Matter. Blue Lives Matter. White Lives Matter. Asian Lives Matter. Hispanic Lives Matter. Native American Lives Matter. Unborn Lives Matter. Every human life matters because we are all made in the image of God. We all have worth and dignity because God made us.
We live in a culture of death. One author very astutely writes,“Our culture not only permits, but promotes abortion, euthanasia, murder, revenge, suicide (assisted or otherwise), war…, contraception, human cloning, human sterilization, embryonic stem cell and fetal research…, homosexuality, promiscuity, infidelity, and divorce. These proclivities lead to the destruction of life and its natural origins".
Here is the irony: though we live in a culture of death, we do not know how to handle death or properly mourn the loss of another human life. Whenever someone dies, we try to soften the blow. We use the terms "passed away" or "kicked the bucket”. We may look for someone to blame. We get angry. We lash out. In the case of the recent shootings, we took to Facebook and Twitter and instantly lashed out at all who looked at our wall or our account.
Instead of lashing out in anger, we need to brutally face the fact that human lives have been ended. Mourn the loss of life. Today, we mourn the deaths of the following individuals: Philander Castile, Alton Sterling, Micah Xavier Johnson, Lorne Ahrens, Michael Smith, Michael Krol, Patrick Zamarripa, and Brent Thompson.
DO NOT BELIEVE OR PROMOTE SIMPLISTIC SOLUTIONS
The issues concerning race and police violence are complex and involve problems in the areas of family, the media, economics, education, politics, and criminology. Any proposed solution that ignores any of these areas is inadequate.
Ultimately, though, Jesus is the only real solution. Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on the book of Jeremiah writes, “The nation that doesn’t deal with sin is wasting time and resources trying to solve national problems, which are only symptoms of the deeper problem, which is sin” (Be Decisive, 184). True reconciliation and peace are found only in the body of Christ. We must work to share the message of what Christ has done by dying for our sins and rising from the dead. Only then will hearts be changed. And when hearts are changed, entire communities—even the entire nation—will be impacted. We must pray for this, and we must work for this.
PRAYER FOR OUR NATION
God, all lives matter to you. You grieve whenever human life is taken. So we mourn the loss of the individuals involved in the shootings in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Texas. We know that Jesus is the only solution for our problems as a nation. We pray for the souls of all Americans, that you would convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment. May they see their sin and their need of a Savior. Give us strength to be ministers of reconciliation as you called us to be in 2 Corinthians 5. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
