George Floyd & Being the Church

Описание: A message from our Senior Minister, Jeff Lindsay.

----
The following email was also sent to our church:

Dear Colonial Family,

Tragedy struck on May 25th, 2020. During a season globally where we are collectively anxious about the loss of breath, George Floyd lost his own for a different yet equally tragic reason. Cell phone videos quickly circulated, showing Floyd pleading for life as a Minneapolis police officer pressed the full weight of his body on his neck.

“I can’t breathe.”

For nearly 8 minutes, four officers at the scene ignored both his cries to have his breath returned to him and those of bystanders, desperately urging them to check his well-being, pleading with them to remember his humanity. George Floyd died shortly after.

As Colonial’s leadership and staff, we are heartbroken and angry. This horrific event is not rare. Ahmaud Arbery was killed while jogging in Georgia as recently as February. We are barely removed from the memory of Philando Castile, who was wrongfully shot to death by police in Falcon Heights just four years ago. Only several years earlier, Eric Garner was choked to death by NYPD, his own breath taken from him.

These injustices are not new, only more visible. Our nation has a long history of systemic injustices where black and brown Americans are dehumanized, dispossessed, and even murdered. This injustice in our country has deep roots, and it affects everything from education and housing to the judicial system, which oppresses communities of color and, at worst, kills them.

When we talk about God’s justice in the Scriptures, we are talking about God’s desire that all humans are free to flourish in community, and George Floyd had this freedom stripped from him.

This is not the way it ought to be. As people of faith, we deeply lament the death of George Floyd. We grieve with his friends and family, knowing that their loss can’t be comprehended. We hurt with our neighbors of color, knowing that their pain can’t be measured. George Floyd was a beloved child of God, made in God’s image, and we seek justice, not only for what has happened to him but for what keeps happening in communities of color across the United States.

We are the Church. As a Christian community, we are committed to justice and it’s time to embody it. We join with the prophet Isaiah as he cries for the kind of holiness that is committed to God’s justice: Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:16-17).

What now? We wholeheartedly recognize it's time to show up as the Beloved community for the Beloved Community, both as Rev. Dr. King prophetically calls us to and as our Core Values challenge us. Here's how we are engaging the long road of doing justice:

Pray: may we bring our hearts to God, full of lament as they might be, angry and anxious though they are. Let’s ground ourselves in Jesus, and from that place of love let’s discern guidance in how to be a people committed to the kingdom work of life, love, and flourishing.

Speak: the conversation doesn't end today. We're creating space for community members to engage individually and collectively to do the necessary work of educating ourselves on issues such as race, equity, and injustice. We encourage community members to seek out anti-racism resources, whether books, podcasts, videos, or organizations. Additionally, we'll be offering opportunities over the summer so that together we can deepen our understanding of racism's collective trauma, its systemic dimension, and the process of racialization which we have all experienced in one way or another. We want to get acquainted with the theological resources available to us in the fight to resist the injustice of racism.

Act: We're seeking partnerships with organizations on the frontlines of this work so we can be co-laborers in the path for justice. We also urge individuals to recognize their spheres of influence and determine ways to support others in their need: whether it's as an ally to people of color, speaking out against injustice, or finding opportunities to implement change in our workplace or homes.

In the meantime, we invite you to click the link in the comment to listen to our final podcast episode in this series on Resurrection and Pentecost in view of George Floyd's death and the Spirit's call for us to be the Church and co-labor with God's Spirit and one another to build the world God longs for.

In the coming days, we will be reaching out to community partners, and will continue to wrestle and pray so as to discern additional concrete steps for us to be the church and join with God in praying and working for God’s kingdom that all might have air to breathe.

Seeking Christ and our neighbor’s good with you,
The Colonial Leadership Team