We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Grieving
I woke this morning to the news of the shooting death of Philando Castile by a police officer just a few miles from my home. He was pulled over because he had a broken tail light and he ended up shot to death. This comes on the heels of the Alton Sterling shooting which is just the latest in a seemingly endless list of black lives senselessly lost at the hands of officers who are pledged to protect them.
This is personal for me. I have four black grandchildren who are so precious to me, and I’m frankly afraid for them. I see their faces in everyone one of these innocent victims. And I’m enraged. I have not stopped shaking since watching the horrific video of Philando bleeding to death next to his girlfriend two hours ago.
Most of all, I’m grieving. I grieve for all who knew and loved Philando as well as for all who loved the untold number of black people shot by police. I grieve for the black community who are forced to live in a different and much less safe America than I and most other white people live in. And I grieve for those white people who are unaware of the privilege their whiteness affords them and who thus deny, once again, the systemic racism that afflicts far too many police forces in America.
Lord, forgive us for the ways we have done violence to people who bear your image, who are your children, and who possess unsurpassable worth. Bring comfort to all who are grieving. Bring healing and repentance. Bring justice. And gives us the wisdom to know “what would bring peace” (Lk 19:42) in this moment.
Image via kare11.com
Category: General
Tags: Black Lives Matter, Current Events, Racism, Violence
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Related Reading

Responding to the Negative Fallout of Trump’s Election
Yesterday I suggested that we refrain from judging the motivations of brothers and sisters who voted for Donald Trump (see post). As the young lady I spoke with illustrates, a person could genuinely grieve over the negative implications Trump’s Presidency might have for certain people groups but nevertheless believe that there are considerations that outweigh these negative implications…

Standing Our Ground Together
Osheta Moore is someone we’ve featured here before. She’s a lovely, thoughtful, passionate African-American woman of God ministering with her husband T.C. Moore in Boston. Osheta has been featuring a series called Standing Our Ground…In Prayer. In the wake of the tragic and senseless death of Jordan Davis, she struggled to articulate the grief and…

Why Are We So Mired in Violence?
In his marvelous little book entitled The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis envisioned hell as a realm in which people are forever moving farther away from one another. Hell is the ultimate, cosmic, suburban sprawl! It seems to me that Western civilization is diving headlong into Lewis’ hell, and we’re being pulled there by the…

The Violent “Church Triumphant”
In light of how central enemy-loving non-violence is to Jesus’ teaching and to his cross-centered revelation of God, we have to wonder why the church has refused to listen to its head and instead condoned violence, as pointed out in the previous post? Christian theologians have used OT’s violent portraits of God, at least since…

Thank You Obama for Denouncing “Christian” Violence: It is Actually Far Worse Than ISIS
Picture Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza It seems some conservative Christians are up in arms because of something Obama said at the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday. After condemning ISIS and religiously-motivated violence in general, the president added: Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other…

Is Islam Inherently Violent? – Further Thoughts
Greg originally posted some thoughts on Islam here. In this video, he discusses some responses he received, and further thoughts on a Kingdom posture toward Muslims.