I don't know the Jesus some have paraded and waved around in the middle of this treachery today. They may be acting in the name of some other Jesus but that's not Jesus of the Gospels.
A reminder that lament is not in opposition to praise.
It is an acknowledgment that God’s good creation has been broken, gratitude that even in our fallenness God has graciously allowed us to identify evil, and righteous longing for promised redemption.
It feels performative and unhelpful to tweet. It feels privileged and uncaring to not tweet. Black women matter and no grand jury or attorney general should have the power to act in any way besides that. Black women matter and our country has never lived out of that truth.
This is a story that Judge Jeffrey Sutton shares about an encounter late in my dad's life, when he bought his friend Ruth two dozen roses for her birthday. "Some things in life are more important than votes."
If we are not anti-racist, we are racist. There is no neutral when black lives continue to be dispensable and disposable day after day. There is no neutral when we gently benefit from white supremacy without challenging its demonic, inherent evils. This is our work.
If you’re unbothered or mildly bothered by the 1st knee, but outraged by the 2nd, then, in my father’s words, you’re “more devoted to order than to justice.” And more passionate about an anthem that supposedly symbolizes freedom than you are about a Black man’s freedom to live.
December 21st. Winter solstice. The darkest day of the year.
Every day of the fall has been getting darker towards today.
But tomorrow?
It starts getting lighter. In tiny tiny increments. But light is coming. It doesn't get any darker than today.
Light is coming.