Indifference

Happy Monday!

I hope you were able to find a way to refresh and recharge this weekend. It’s been an emotional week, and many of us need a moment to catch our breath. There’s such great value in clearing our minds to be able to be present to work, family, friends, and perhaps difficult conversations with clarity and peace of mind. I also hope that each of us has had an opportunity to address our worldview to add to the current global conversation relevantly.

These words from Elie Weisel, Romanian-American writer, professor, and Nobel Laureate, resonate with that same conversation:

Last week, I received an email that gave me pause for reflection. It’s a quote from Pastor Chuck Hunt that was written in 2017 and is quite relevant to today’s circumstances. Pastor Chuck’s words reflect similarly to Professor Wiesel’s and eerily foreshadow current events:

“Racism is the opposite of what God intends for humanity.  

It is a form of idolatry that elevates human-made hierarchies of value over divinely given free grace.

Through colonialization and slavery, this country continues to embrace a system for devaluing people based on skin color and ethnic identity.  

This problem has not and will not go away with calls for peace and unity or time. Protests against the removal for monuments of racism will continue.  

What’s going on in Charlottesville is not the last I fear. The continued strain against law enforcement and people of color will continue.  

My friends who happen to be white and do not know what to say; that will continue unless we stay attached to The Way.  

These and more are the fruit of an America with deep racist roots. As long as Goliath continues to yell and scream and Christians continue to scatter, nothing will change.  

Goliath must be confronted, not calmed. Goliath must be fought not fed. We will be accountable for how we face this movement.

Racism is not the way. Racism is not the truth. Racism is not the life promised in Jesus.”

Scripture helps us understand the need for balance and action:

“To set high standards for someone else,and then not live up to them yourself,
is something that God truly hates.
But it pleases him when we apply the right standards
of measurement.
When you act with presumption,
convinced that you’re right,
don’t be surprised if you fall flat on your face!
But walking in humility helps you to make wise decisions.
Integrity will lead you to success and happiness,
but treachery will destroy your dreams.” Proverbs 11:1-3 (TPT)

I can’t add to the relevance and poignancy of these two thoughtful teachers. As we contemplate the ideas of action, indifference, justice, and mercy, I hope we find ways to search our hearts and minds, educate ourselves, initiate conversations, and act in a manner befitting the need for truth, acceptance, balance, and love.

Have an amazing week!

Be Well & Be Blessed!
Lucinda