I love the stories of the Christian monks in the Egyptian desert. Sure they are a bit quirky, but really I love how they can be both theologically rigorous and pastorally compassionate.
One of my favorites is about an monk who kept a woman in his cell. Others in the community realized what was happening and called on a elder to reveal their brother’s sin. When the entourage arrived at the cell, the brother hid the woman in a basket. When the elder walked in, he sat on the basket and told the others to find the woman. When they could not find even a trace, he chastised them for falsely accusing their brother and sent them away. The elder then stood up and let the woman out of the basket, told the brother to be careful, and left.
Much of Christianity today is concerned with theological and ethical purity. In the age of social media it is now common to speak with such dogmatic force that there is little room for the compassion of the elder in the story. In fact, many Christians sound a lot more like the brothers set on condemning their fellow monk.
This desire for purity continues to damage the witness of the church. We are paralyzed from being active in the world as ambassadors of Christ because we are trying to find the perfect community or movement that we can work with. This group doesn’t read the Bible like I do. That group has the wrong view of sexuality. That there group gets funding from the wrong people. This here group has the wrong political philosophy. Even if the work being done is needed and part of the Good News of Christ, the church is wringing its hands.
Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil opens her most recent book with the story of her experience in Ferguson after a police officer killed Michael Brown. A group of church leaders were meeting with the growing group of young activists. However, the activists weren’t interested in what the church people had to say. At one point they texted the ministers about an upcoming protest and closed with the simple question. ‘Are you coming or not?’
McNeil observes that the new generation is not waiting on church leaders to sort out their principals and discern if a movement meets their social ethics or dogmatic theology. They are even skeptical that church folks will put their bodies in the struggle at all. “Are you coming or not?”
In the years since the Black Lives Matter has morphed from a Twitter hashtag into a decentralized international movement comprised of hundreds of individual organizations, the White church has been arguing about whether or not it can show up with the movement. We have heard the dismissive “All Lives matter”, the constant refrain that the movement can’t be supported because it affirms LGBTQ persons, is anti-family, Marxist, or violent. White Christians have rolled out every possible reason from the overtly racist to the political plays from the Cold War for why its not possible to support the biblically and theologically clear assertion that black lives do indeed matter.
McNeil calls on us to be brave and courageous. I simply want to say its going to get messy. The emerging generations of white, black, and brown people assume the church isn’t showing up. And that is precisely why we must stand with folks who are proclaiming the humanity of others, even if we don’t agree with everything they say. Like the desert monks, it is time for us to stop pitting theological and ethical purity against pastoral compassion. In fact, showing up listening and supporting the people in their cries for racial justice might actually mean we can give witness to the faith in Christ that gives us the freedom to join them.
There are a multitude of organizations working for racial justice. Find one near by, and show up. Listen and follow. There will be things that make us as white people uncomfortable. Like I said, its messy. Say please, and thank you. Say I am sorry when someone tells you have hurt them. Don’t make excuses about your intentions. Cry with those who lead not because they chose to, but because the racial hierarchy in our land has forced them into some of the most painful moments of their lives. It’s going to be messy. But just show up.
Collationes 