Many today struggle to understand the vandalism and even worse acts that are showing up on our social media feeds and in the news. I am too. And it is certainly ok to be upset about it. I fear that things will worsen, and we must pray for those in law enforcement more than we ever have.
Yet, for me, we must not make the goal to only quiet the protests and get things back to normal. It is “the normal” that is the problem, and my prayer is that we can all come together, especially Christ-followers, and work with others to create a new and better future for all.
Let us see the pain happening in black and brown communities and let them know we can see what they are seeing too. I can see “a people” that have continually been wronged and need voices from all aspects of society to say out loud to our circles of influence, “We see what you see, and we mourn with you and will look for ways to help bring change!”
Humanity and family, not politics, frames the world for me. I care deeply about human suffering and consider George Floyd, my brother. I do genuinely care about the indigenous people groups whose stores were burned down in Minnesota and other small businesses and corporations who have suffered theft and losses during this. I pray they can forgive the perpetrators as well.
Recently, in California and other parts of the U.S., Pastors have been angry at Governors and municipal powers for restricting public church services.
In some states, where rulings were considered by Pastors to be unjust, thousands of pastors defied court orders and met anyway. This defiance and this is only my opinion, is the same rebellion expressed in a “different” way. However, if a Pastor makes a wrong call and has an outbreak of COVID-19 because of his gathering, it could have deadly consequences, even more than burning down stores and property loss. I oppose that and call both of them wrong.