The Church Has Left the BuildingSample

We can be love in ACTION and “go and do likewise”, as Jesus commands us in Luke 10. We need an EPIPHANY, an experience of awakening to something we may not have known previously, that can lead us toward INTENTIONALITY. 

In the context of racism, many of us are trying to do as Jesus commanded, but our eyes may not be opened to the realities that people in our own neighborhoods and cities are experiencing. Depending on our experience, we may not even be aware that racism continues to exist and affect people’s lives, even to their experience on their jobs, in their communities and churches. When we are unaware of these systems and structures, we fail to act intentionally to dismantle them on all levels of society. People’s lives are marked by this experience and re-occurring trauma, but many around the globe are experiencing an epiphany to a reality that was previously left unaddressed, and are becoming intentional in their response. 

When the people of Israel were freed from captivity it took years, even generations to understand what was at their disposal as children of God. Our experiences don’t define us, but they certainly shape us. They needed to be reminded about the providence of God over and over again. They had to begin to see and understand differently. When we can ask the right questions and receive full disclosure on a subject as valuable as black lives, we will begin to see and act differently. In the same way the Samaritan man went out of his way to help the man who was beaten, we believe that it will take intentionality as a part of our communities and across cultures to go out of the way to help those who have been passed by for far too long. 

Questions:

1. How can you go out of your way today to learn about what a person of color has experienced? Pray and ask God for an epiphany of how you are meant to help and be an ally to another today. 

2. Consider what clarity and conversations the people around you might need in order for us all to contribute to healing in the world around us. Who can you lovingly and intentionally support?