Thank you to Christena Cleveland for this important piece on the situation in Ferguson. White Christians: please listen intently and closely to many different black leaders and voices before you speak. And even then, honor black voices, concerns, and experiences above your own. Can you see the suffering Christ in the oppressed, even the ones who aren’t responding perfectly to society’s oppression? Christ doesn’t just suffer for the innocent, the ones who don’t have the energy to fight back, or the ones who perfectly respond to injustice. He suffers for the ones who suffer now and sin in their suffering. And make no mistake, our God is a God of justice. The young black men who launch Molotov cocktails at the police are misappropriating God’s justice by taking it into their own hands, but the rage they feel is the rage that God feels towards injustice. In a sense, they are imaging forth God’s justice to an unjust world. Seeing the suffering Christ in these young men isn’t achieved by theological gymnastics, deep pity, or altruism. It’s done by listening to their stories, sharing life, standing in solidarity with them, and experiencing their rage. I’ve written elsewhere that when oppressed people are angry, privileged people should listen up. Can you learn from the violent protesters as well as the peaceful protesters? Can you see the Imago Dei in both?
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 02:37:15 +0000
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