![]() ![]() Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed Only a day for people to humble themselves? Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,Īnd in striking each other with wicked fists.Īnd expect your voice to be heard on high. “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please Indeed, the voices of the prophets are calling out to God’s people from across the ages:Īnd to the descendants of Jacob their sins.Īs if they were a nation that does what is rightĪnd has not forsaken the commands of its God.Īnd seem eager for God to come near them. On the contrary, God’s people must be ambassadors of His reconciling work, proclaiming the present and future reality of His kingdom in the here and now of this broken world. Until that great day, God’s people wait, but we must not wait passively. ![]() The Chalmers Center wants to declare loudly and unequivocally that racism is demonic, that it is ongoing, and that through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection it must end. While the church may be giving increased attention to issues of systemic injustice right now in this moment of national grieving and protest, we must ask ourselves why our fellow image-bearers have to shout so loud before we will listen. Even worse, at times we have shamed and rebuked them for these acts of faithfulness. Unfortunately, while many Christians have taken up the biblical call to justice, too often we have allowed our black brothers and sisters to do most of the heavy lifting in the work of lamenting, grieving, and striving for change. The recent, horrific killing of George Floyd brings to light again the kinds of injustices that grieve the heart of God. From enslavement to segregation to substandard education to historic and contemporary lynching to police brutality, our country has often acted out of racist hatred toward our black neighbors by law and by custom. One of the greatest failures to love our neighbors in the United States is the over 400 years of controlling, abusing, and profiting from the bodies of black image-bearers. When we fail to love our neighbor, we are failing to love God Himself (1 John 3:7-18). Love of neighbor is elevated to this level because all people are made in God’s image and are designed to reflect His character, His glory, His love. Jesus-God’s very word made flesh-tells us that the greatest commandment of Scripture, the one all the rest of the commandments hinge on, is to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |