Who is the person in your family who invariably shares a disgusting observation at the dinner table? The person who talks about seeping wounds, broken bones or the ever popularly 'poopy' stories? Ewwwww.... That person is often me, although my predecessors in this could top me on my best day.
Today, I have a disgusting analogy to share with you. Think of America as a relatively healthy person who has had a huge festering boil on her face. It is getting bigger and bigger. It disfigures her. It hurts and threatens to make her whole body sick. Friends and family have all sorts of suggestions, but nothing works to make it go away.
Along comes a doctor who diagnoses the root of the problem. The only cure is to get the pus out so that the body can heal. It will be painful, but the only solution.
The boil on America's face is racism. Imagine a leader who comes along and condemns white people who feel superior to blacks and Jews. Imagine a leader condemns blacks who want to kill white people, including white police officers. Imagine a leader who shifts our focus to what it means to be a whole and healthy America, and not a nation divided into white Americans, black Americans, or Hispanic Americans, and the rest.
Whether you like him or not, Trump's comments after Charlottesville have lanced the boil of racism in today's America:
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, this has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America. What is vital now is a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives. No citizen should ever fear for their safety and security in our society. And no child should ever be afraid to go outside and play or be with their parents and have a good time." (8/12/17)
His words are painful, but true. Hatred, bigotry and violence have no place in America. In response, we are seeing all sorts of ugly things spew across our cities and towns, including my own, but we have to let it out if America is ever going to heal. My prayer is that by calling out the violence, bigotry and hatred for the evil that it is, we will come to our senses.
Things may get worse before they get better. But hope is on the horizon. Did you see how folks came together to watch the eclipse? Did you see how folks helped each other in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey? Where can you help rather than hurt?
That which unites us is infinitely more important than that which divides us. We are all created by God. We all bleed the same blood. We all live on this planet together. As Americans, we are strongest when we unite in our common belief that the best way for us to live together is by upholding the founding principles of our Constitutional Republic.
White supremacy has no place in America. Neither does a group that promotes "Black Lives Matter." Both are racist in their own way. America has come a long way from the days when slavery was legal. America has come a long way from Jim Crow laws and "separate but equal." In the eyes of God and the eyes of the law, all Americans are equal. Sadly, we still aren't equal in the eyes of each other.
Within each of us is that little bit of "I'm better than you" mentality. Football player Benjamin Watson is repeatedly quoted as saying, "It's a sin issue, not a skin issue." And he is spot on. And the cure for sin will not by brought about by laws, education, protests or violence - the only cure for sin, including the sin of racism, is found in the Gospel.
Let me leave you with an event recorded in the Gospel:
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
“No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” ( John 8:1-11)
My friends, America's race problem is a sin issue, not a skin issue.
Rather than condemning this group or that group, this person or that person, lance the boil on your own sinful soul that makes you think you are superior to your neighbor, to the protestors on TV - or even the president. We can disagree, but we shouldn't hate. Jesus says, "Love each other the same way I have loved you." (John 15:12).
Go and sin no more. Let America's healing begin with you.
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