The BLM Response Raises a Question
In the last month we have seen an incredible response to the death of one previously unknown man, dare I say an unprecedented response. Something about the 8 minutes and 46 seconds that the policeman’s knee was on George Floyd’s back leading to his death, has triggered a huge amount of changes. One day protests were going on in the city where he died, which is nothing new, but then, all of the sudden protests sprang up all over the states and even the world. Quickly the policemen on duty in the incident lost their jobs and soon were charged in relation to murder. Soon other similar police abuse situations were coming to the fore that only a month before had shown little change. Then more charges and firings and then calls for police reform going to various governing bodies even including defunding them. Changes then began affecting other parts of society; old movies like Gone with the Wind, Confederate flags and monuments, our holidays (Juneteenth), kneeling for the national anthem, celebrities in black face, even Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben.
The national conversation has revolved around racism. Many including myself are asking, “Am I racist?” There are no easy answers when you are talking about institutional racism. Being white, I am sure I don’t see the full extent of it. I can, like many of us, be insensitive and not see things from their perspective. (I did notice in naming some sin pandemics in my last blog I only mentioned those around me and never thought about the racism pandemic.)
What has caused all these changes (and many others I don’t have room to mention)? What was it about George Floyd’s death? Was it the obvious murder going viral on social media? Was it his quiet but loving character? Was it the timing right during a pandemic that has disproportionally affected the black population? Is it Covid itself that has somehow set us up for it? There has been much conjecture, but no solid answers.
There is an answer that goes beyond circumstances and influence – the Sovereign God of the Universe is at work behind the on-goings of our culture, bringing us to where he wants us to be.
Which leads me to another question; if that’s true, where is he taking us? Could it be to a revival?
You remember revivals from your history classes. They were a time of unusual increased spiritual fervor in our nation with many becoming Christian believers. People came back to the Lord after a great moral decline. Churches or meetings were filled with people expressing guilt and, often very emotionally, the joy of the Lord. They can happen in churches or in society or even Christian colleges; like a few years back, when one-hour chapel services ended up going for days as students stood up and confessed their sins.
We are certainly in need of a revival or an awakening! Sometimes they come at times of national or worldwide disruption like we are experiencing now. And there are now movements of prayer for revival. (See Christianity Today ‘s article “Praying for Revival during the Coronavirus Crisis”, March 17, 2020.) We are certainly ripe for a major one as we haven’t had any since I became a believer during the Jesus Movement of the 70’s (if that even counts). What if racism is just the start of addressing sins in our society? Maybe now is not the time, but can you imagine changes like what are going on now with Black Lives Matter, but instead related to sin and the gospel; people coming to God and the changes that could occur in our society. The George Floyd response has shown it is possible. Let’s pray it would be so and soon!
The Broken Church 