What a mess. You have an opinion on the current NFL protest, and so do I. But, this isn’t another blog post to tell you why you’re right or wrong about the flag, whatever your position might be. It isn’t another blog post defending one side and criminalizing the other. I am just not going to debate this with you. It isn’t that I don’t care about what is happening. Quite the opposite in fact. I care deeply about what is happening all across our country, on football fields yes, but also in living rooms heavy with tension, on social media accounts, dripping with vitriol, in church pews with awkwardly shifting backsides as everyone tries to avoid any controversial topics…and there are so many to avoid these days. I am just not going to debate this with you. It’s not because I’m tired of the conversation and it’s toxic tone, although the Lord knows I am tired. You are tired. We are all so very tired. My spirit is inexhaustibly wearied by the scorn and disdain undercutting every argument. I am just not going to debate this with you. People I love and trust have already waxed eloquent on the significance of the flag, devotion to a kingdom, and faithful Christian practice, including my friend and pastoral brother on his blog. Other people have said powerful things about the racial tensions around the country, and called all of us to reflect and respond. I have no interest in saying what has already been said, trying to one-up the next blogger around the corner. My purpose in writing is first and foremost, always, pastoral. Because that is who I am, a shepherd to a people graciously entrusted to me by Jesus, the Good Shepherd. My concern in this whole debacle that is contemporary America public discourse is for the hearts of my people, for their devotion and faithful practice of that devotion. While the flag conversation is vital, something else is nagging at me, a realization that has given me no peace. We have become so consumed by the manner of protest (namely, kneeling during the anthem), that we have soundly ignored the cry of the protest itself. We have become so enraged by the method employed by these athletes that we have allowed ourselves to silence their message altogether. We have become so enraged by the method employed by these athletes that we have allowed ourselves to silence their message altogether. Many of us have probably forgotten why the protest began in the first place. It began as a protest concerning the disproportionate number of black Americans treated with lethal force by law enforcement, often without consequence. Now again, I’m not going to debate this with you. Again, I have opinions, you have opinions, we all have opinions! My pastoral goal here is not to convince you that one side or another is truly just, or entirely innocent. That would be a losing battle before I even began. Too many walls have already been erected in all of our hearts to hear the Other. Rather, my pastoral goal is to ask you, my sister and brothers in Christ, is to pause and consider a picture. This picture was taken on Sept. 24th, before a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Indianapolis Colts. Maybe you’ve seen it, or maybe it got lost in the glut of images and memes and videos clips and gifs washing over you day in, day out. Me too. But this one shot made me pause. Five guys. A few black, a couple white. A couple kneeling, three standing. But their arms are linked together. For one second, try to suspend judgment. Suspend judgment about the guys kneeling. Suspend judgment about the guys that chose to remain standing. Consider something for a second, crack the door ever so slightly, would you? While I will not pretend to know what is going on in each of these players’ minds, I think it is safe to assume that based on their individual choices that night, some to kneel and some to stand, that these men were convicted very differently on their method of protest. Being of different races, different backgrounds, different families, they probably came to some very different conclusions on the issue at hand and positioned themselves accordingly. And yet… And yet, here they are, arms linked. And not loosely either, but tightly like an old school game of red rover. It’s awkward to lock arms like that, when you are all in different positions. But they are committed to it. Beloved, this is our call. No, I am not telling to pick a side in this debate, nor I am prescribing to you the “only faithful” method of response to these issues. No. But what I am calling you to is faithful, Christian empathy. Empathy: the ability to understand share the feelings of another. Is it possible, as followers of Jesus, to suspend our own judgments and enter into the pain of another, if only for a moment if that is all we can muster? Is it possible to pause and consider the hurt of a people that would lead them to a protest of this magnitude, bringing down violent, soul-crushing rhetoric down on their heads? Could we for a moment, place ourselves in someone else’s cleats, and imagine the hurt, the frustration, the powerlessness they might be feeling, that would lead them to this particular path? Dare we love, even when we don’t agree with someone’s method of expression? Could we show compassion, even when we don’t understand their motivations? Can we demonstrate empathy, even when it doesn’t feel like “our issue?” (God have mercy on us if we take that line in our hearts.) Dare we link arms with our black brothers and sisters who are hurting, even if we don’t agree with the method of the protest? Dare we link arms in an act of empathy with our sisters and brothers whose hearts are breaking, not because we “get it” or we agree on every single issue, but because they are children of God, made in God’s image, just like us? Dare we link arms, even when it’s hard and awkward and our arms get all twisted and cramped because our positions and perspectives our so different, as an act of love and faithfulness? Dare we, the Church, link arms with our fellow sisters and brothers and, in doing so, teach the world how to live under the rule of King Jesus? Could we practice empathy and embody the faithfulness of Jesus, the One who is our peace; the One who gave his life in order that in his flesh he might make both groups into one and break down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. Beloved, may we link arms with our sisters and brothers and show the world what Kingdom of God love and living is all about. Could we, the Church, link arms with our fellow sisters and brothers and, in doing so, teach the world how to live under the rule of King Jesus?
5 Comments
Keith Horwood
9/29/2017 09:19:50 am
Where are the Peter Normans?
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Jesse Middendorf
9/29/2017 04:23:33 pm
Very powerful words, and so on target! Thank you!!
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Kelly Durbin
10/1/2017 05:22:29 pm
Yes to this article, Stephanie! Thank you for speaking out humbly in peace and love. We'll certainly require more of it to see change.
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