We Shall Overcome

In the wake of the pain our country is facing…systemic oppression, injustice, and bigotry, we find our spirits longing for comfort in the gospel and equality in the present. Our pastor, T.S. Hillman, Jr. offers this statement of hope below, to those wrestling with the trauma of injustice.

Matthew 5:9 (KJV) Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

The heinous murder of Greg Floyd who died after a Minneapolis police office kneeled on his neck during an arrest has sparked days of protest and outrage. The video capturing his final moments and last words, are painful reminders of the black experience in America as a result of institutionalized oppression and systemic racism. Most can agree that the original recording and subsequently released footage demonstrates the need to hold all officers involved in this tragedy accountable, but the range of responses reveals that this is a smaller part of a larger problem that remains hidden from the public.

Greg Floyd’s visible death has been a triggering event for the invisible pain and traumatic suffering that many persons within the black community have experienced without the same level of attention. There are many that have lost their lives from interactions with police officers and there are countless souls that have experienced a wide range of unrecorded injustices, unreported injuries, and unsafe interactions with law enforcement. When invisible injustices continue to go uncorrected and are ignored without accountability, it will lead to major injury and in this case death. As believers we must remind ourselves that we are not struggling against a visible adversary but against invisible forces who control the power of the air (Ephesians 6:10). We must ask how racism has been hidden from our view, not if.

Our country is crying out for healing and the protests that have turned riotous reflect the hopelessness that many are feeling regarding the potential for genuine change. The blessing of Christ presence that rest with his disciples is that we have the grace to usher in peace. Peace is the absence of violence and the presence of justice. Anyone pushing for law and order without correcting injustice furthers the injury experienced and anyone pushing for justice by use of violence will only further chaos. As purveyors of peace we must actively, passionately, and creatively resist all forms of visible and invisible evil, including racism, rather than remain complicit in its evolution and survival.

During this time, I believe that God is activating the prophetic voice of the church without destroying property or assaulting police officers. We have profound examples in scripture that we can gain insight from, whether the liberation authored by Yahweh in the form of the ten plagues that disrupted the economy of Egypt or the apostolic preaching of the gospel that disturbed the financial condition of Ephesus; the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is fit with the tools to unite our community and revolutionize the values of our society during these turbulent times. These are the days which require the disciplined restraint of the Holy Spirit without categorizing every person as a racist so we can unite to resist old racist systems of exploitation and oppression together. The church must become the imaginative muscle of our country to envision the creation of real peace that restores the dignity of our humanity, repairs the racial injuries experienced by our oppressed members, and reconciles us with the abundant hope experiencing justice now.

In the end, peace will have the last word so let’s work to make that future real in the present.

Here’s our worship for the week. We shall overcome.