The death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis has ignited turmoil and debate about racism like never before. It was assumed that he was treated with fatal brutality because of the color of his skin. The narrative, fanned into flame by media and interest groups, quickly escalated to the police being systemically racist, engaged in genocide against people of color, and in need of defunding or dismantling. That is reactionary, destructive grief that will trigger a dangerous slide into anarchy and chaos, and lead us further and further away from being “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I am convinced that no amount of protesting, planning, political posturing or action or social justice reform can eradicate racism, no matter how well-intentioned they seem. Is it wrong to do any of those things? No – they help some, and protests most definitely draw attention to a searing wound in the soul of our nation that needs healing. But they will never eradicate racism, nor unify, nor guarantee liberty and justice for all.
Shocked? Let me explain. And my explanation will form the basis for how to pray about the wounds and injustice of racism. Let’s begin with the definition of racism, according to Mirriam Webster:
- a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
- a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles b : a political or social system founded on racism
- racial prejudice or discrimination
Two and three build on number one. From a Christian perspective, racism is rooted in our sin-soaked human nature. We are all infected with sin, and the heart of sin, since its entrance in the human heart in the garden of Eden, is that we are our own god. It produces in us the insatiable urge to elevate ourselves above our fellow man by any means possible. It can happen by one-upmanship, envy, manipulation, pride of possessions, greed, and what have you. Racism is one of the most brutal forms of human self-elevation – to consider yourself better than someone else because of the color of your skin. It happens first of all at the personal level, and from there flows through into ideological, political, organizational and even religious structures. Racism has existed as far back as antiquity . It took on brutal forms through the colonial conquests and eradication or enslavement of people in Latin America and Africa, with the Christian church condoning it by regarding the conquered peoples as savage and subhuman. It ran through the development of the United States with the enslavement and post-emancipation discrimination of black people and the brutal suppression of the native population standing in the way of colonial expansion.
And it is not limited to the US. I’ve lived and ministered in different parts of the world. I’ve seen racial and tribal discrimination in Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. Racism caused the rise of fascism and the eradication of millions in Europe and Asia during Word War II. It caused a war between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 resulting in the genocide of over 500,000 people.
Its consistent presence in world history with staggering brutality convinces me that racism exists first in our hearts, and then in the systems we create. It’s embedded in our sin nature.
That is crucial for how we as Christians respond to racism. You can and should make racial hostility illegal, but you can’t eradicate it from people’s hearts by organizational reform, simply because you can’t eradicate sin by organizational reform. There is only One who can put to death the power of sin in us and thereby eradicate racism.
“For He himself is our peace, who has made us (both) one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” Ephesians 2:14-16.
Heady stuff. Let me simplify: Jesus died on the cross and gave every human being, Jew or Gentile, regardless skin color, tribal heritage, language, social status, economic status, political affiliation or anything else, just one way to be saved and get right with God. He took away the dividing wall between us and God (sin), and the dividing wall between each other as human beings (hostility that comes from sin). Not just that, but once we’re reconciled to God we are one. The same Spirit indwells all of us:
“There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:4-6
The long and the short of it is that unity is achieved by us getting right with God, and being indwelt by the same Holy Spirit who changes our hearts, pours the unconditional, unselfish, unifying, peacemaking love of God into our hearts – thus putting to death racism and any other sort of divisive mindsets in our nature. And that’s how we get right with each other.
And that is our only hope. Which brings me to how I think we ought to pray about racism. The only true and complete answer to racism is a spiritual revival – one that:
– begins with me
– engulfs the church
– spills over into our society on a massive scale.
A revival that convicts us, humbles us, causes us to confess and renounce any form of hostility towards others within us, and effects an outpouring of a selfless, forgiving, reconciling, unifying love into hearts that is stronger than the divisions in our churches and in our society.
This is the moment of God’s people, who can and should be one in Christ, to shine. And that shining begins on our knees before God the Father, shoulder to shoulder, with our eyes off each other and on Him. Revival happens in answer to the earnest prayers of thirsty hearts. And despair intensifies our despair like nothing else will. That is constructive grief.
So I urge each reader to turn anger, confusion, frustration, helplessness, hopelessness, woundedness, guilt, or any other emotion that has been running through us into prayer. Let’s turn our eyes off the world’s narrative and embrace heaven’s narrative. God is just and on the side of the oppressed. If God loves justice, so should we – but in the recognition that justice begins with the transformation of our hearts, which in turn will transform our actions.
Indivisibility, liberty and justice for all begin with being one nation under God. And being one nation under God begins with a spiritual revival that transforms us, inclines our hearts to Him in surrender, and thirst for His forgiveness of our hostility towards Him and one another, and for the healing of our land.
Is praying like this pie in the sky? I think not. Watch this! https://vimeo.com/65036413 and let it fuel your hope. We’re up against things far greater than our human limitations can handle – it is time to seek and trust the hand of God.