Letters to the Church: Emotions and Racism Uzorak

Dear Unconscious One

In the pursuit of seeing God’s multi-ethnic kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, where there is belonging in diversity and unity abounds, there are some people who are unaware of the racism and prejudice in their own heart, or the way this sin attacks the unity in the Bride. Switched off because of ignorance, judgement, or the result of being desensitised by the world we live in, they are unconscious of the weightiness of this issue and how deeply it matters to God. This is a letter to an unconscious one.

Dear unconscious one,

“Wake up! Wake up!” Can you imagine the cries of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He came back from His time of prayer, to find the disciples sleeping after He had asked them to keep watch and pray? Just hours before His crucifixion, though Jesus had told them what was about to happen, they had not understood the significance of that moment. Like the disciples we too can sleep through moments that matter, drifting through our days disconnected to the pain and problems around us. We live much of our lives on autopilot - unaware of others; their present moment and past journey’s but we are called to love our neighbours as ourselves.

“Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.” (Romans 13:10-11)

To love our neighbour well, we need to live aware of the realities others face - their thoughts, their priorities, their pain and their potential. Jesus is saying wake up to sleeping disciples yet again. With life on the line, people are still sleeping away in blissful ignorance but Jesus is calling us in this new garden moment to wake up! Come on, believer, wake up!

Psalm 119:18 is a prayer we can all pray and a commitment we can all pursue, “Open my eyes, that I may see the wondrous things out of your law.” As we pray “open my eyes…” God will start to move our thoughts, highlighting and speaking to us about things we previously ignored or didn’t know. “Open my eyes to others' experience”, “open my eyes to others' pain”, “open my eyes to Your heart desire God”, are prayers that are like defibrillators to our consciousness - reviving and aligning our heart with His.

“...That I may see” is the beginning of a change in our posture in light of our eyes being opened. This is not seeing with our physical eyes but with the eyes of the heart; as God opens our eyes, He is really opening our hearts. As knowledge and understanding increases through awareness and education, ask the Holy Spirit to move it from information to revelation. When we seek out “...the wonders of His law”, we are enlightened as scriptures express the rhythm of truth and grace of His ways.

As He calls us to minister to the world, we must engage with the reality and struggle that people face - being willing to minister to their physical and spiritual needs. Through His word, the presence of the Holy Spirit and meaningful connection with those around us, we can commit to having the things that matter to God as central to what matters to us.

Reflection Points

To the unconscious one:

• Questions:
  • Where is Jesus calling you to “wake up?” in the areas of diversity, inclusion and unity?
  • How can you learn more about the realities of racism and increase your awareness of God’s heart for unity?
  • How can you create pause moments in your day to stop and be present with God and connect with others?
• Pray and ask God to transform your heart and teach you His ways in this area.

To the rest of the church:

• We can be conscious for certain moments or seasons and then switch off again - consider how you can remain engaged in the fight against racism for the long term
• Pray for the boldness and wisdom to challenge harmful unconscious behaviours.