The Struggle for Justice
“When I look at my grandchildren, all beautiful, all bright, all full of light, I swear to you, O Lord, it fills me with fear, and then anger, and grief…
I am beyond rage, O Lord, at the utter complicity of even good white folk who claim that they care, and yet their voices don’t ring out loudly and consistently against an injustice so grave that it sends us to our graves with frightening frequency. They wring their hands in frustration to prove that they empathize with our plight–that is, those who care enough to do so–and then throw them up in surrender.
What we mostly fear is deafening silence. What we mostly see is crushing indifference. Lord, what are we to do in a nation of people who claim to love you and hold fast to your word and way and yet they let their brothers and sisters murder us like we are animals?” pages 31-32
Michael Eric Dyson is a professor, writer, and an ordained minister, but in this passage we hear his heart as a father and grandfather. There is nothing like the love that a parent has for their child, and that love multiplies with grandchildren. So it is painful to hear the fear that this man has for his grandchildren because of the color of their skin.
This isn’t Dyson’s struggle alone. It is not only the struggle of African Americans. This should be the struggle of every person who follows Jesus–to reconcile the love that God has for us, and calls us to show to others, with the injustices that black and brown people experience disproportionately in this country. Pray that God would give you the courage not to surrender when faced with these injustices.
Question to Ponder: What are some ways that we can ‘loudly and consistently’ speak up against injustice as a church community that practices sabbath together?
This week’s devotions are adapted from the book, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson. St. Martin’s Press, New York. 2017.
