I'm so sorry Dr. Tisby. I couldn't bring myself to listen or watch the video. I could only prayer last night for peace in communities - to avoid more violence. As a mom of three, I can't imagine the horrible pain his parents and siblings are subjected to - and they are just a few of the many in America's sad tale.
It only takes a millisecond, a moment to look inside... & see love’s absence in our dry and weary land... a desert 🐪 🌵 🏜️, a parched land... that we of the world .... we that are in the world, lack.
If I could but grasp on the one hand... hold gently the one truth here... then reach out and hold gently with the other hand... the the other...
Outside: On the one side... this precious Brother-in-Christ(👦🏿👦👦🏻👦🏼👦🏽👦🏾👦🏿) violent unjust death... at the hand of a cruel system of the world’s justice...
Inside: & in the other hand to take hold of the lack-of-love in my relationships... even scratch its surface... the horrific signs of us the body of Christ... in just failed and failing marriages...
We all suffer when one part (of the body of Christ) suffers, right? Even in one failed marriage... not just the one devastated marriage... but the 60% rate of love-failed... (note: this marriage failure rate is even higher in segments based on of gender, on race, and economic statuses)...
Please Lord Jesus,
Bring Holy Spirit filled love ❤️💚💙💫 in us as your Radiant Bride you are coming for...
Perfect Love come!
Bring the rivers of Holy Spirit love... these waters that need to fill this desert 🏜️ 🏜️ 🏜️... as the prophet Isaiah spoke of... flow flow flow... starting with me even... so we all may refresh and be restored...
- a restoration of the body-of-Christ that not only cohesively reflects our Billy Graham and MLK Jr witnesses... changing us... then impacting this lost world... strengthen me to drop my idols... that are blocking these propec-siac rivers... so we no longer see through this clouded murky window... but see perfectly clear... as in when “the perfect come”...
Come Lord Jesus. Let us mourn that we may receive not only comfort, but this perfect spirit flowing waters love... that brings whole & complete peace that the world isn’t supposed to give me... , love that crosses these chasms... even chasms of race... even then even chasms of thousands of used up wineskins of creeds that divide ... that what our Heavenly Father brings... for his glorified and not my our might... not by our power... in his beautiful glorious time...
Thanks for these words that express how you're trying to manage grief and despair and faith.
I was in conversation last night with a friend who tends towards dull resignation while I am somehow constituted to believe that one day, perhaps soon, we will make a difference.
And perhaps the reality is that an individual can't do much in the face of this deeply embedded system of injustice. Maybe doing the right thing doesn't really make others want to do the right thing. Maybe it doesn't matter much what I or anyone does--the system will roll on like the mighty Mississippi.
At the end of the conversation I had to conclude that yes, there is almost no connection between good intent and good actions and the actual systemic changes that we want to see.
But I still believe that small actions of faith and hope and healing can build up to larger modifications as people are moved to work together.
I can't seem to live outside that faith that I must do what's right because it's right, and *maybe* there will be change. Still, I can't give up even in the face of inexorable resistance to progress and justice.
It's the only thing I have in my pocket: this one thin coin that others call "change"—but I call it "hope," and it keeps me going.
I'm so sorry Dr. Tisby. I couldn't bring myself to listen or watch the video. I could only prayer last night for peace in communities - to avoid more violence. As a mom of three, I can't imagine the horrible pain his parents and siblings are subjected to - and they are just a few of the many in America's sad tale.
Jemar, thank you so much for writing this and for your continued witness. Yes, how long O Lord? I wrote a sort of response, “Living into Lament” here: https://robertpjones.substack.com/p/living-into-lament
It only takes a millisecond, a moment to look inside... & see love’s absence in our dry and weary land... a desert 🐪 🌵 🏜️, a parched land... that we of the world .... we that are in the world, lack.
If I could but grasp on the one hand... hold gently the one truth here... then reach out and hold gently with the other hand... the the other...
Outside: On the one side... this precious Brother-in-Christ(👦🏿👦👦🏻👦🏼👦🏽👦🏾👦🏿) violent unjust death... at the hand of a cruel system of the world’s justice...
Inside: & in the other hand to take hold of the lack-of-love in my relationships... even scratch its surface... the horrific signs of us the body of Christ... in just failed and failing marriages...
We all suffer when one part (of the body of Christ) suffers, right? Even in one failed marriage... not just the one devastated marriage... but the 60% rate of love-failed... (note: this marriage failure rate is even higher in segments based on of gender, on race, and economic statuses)...
Please Lord Jesus,
Bring Holy Spirit filled love ❤️💚💙💫 in us as your Radiant Bride you are coming for...
Perfect Love come!
Bring the rivers of Holy Spirit love... these waters that need to fill this desert 🏜️ 🏜️ 🏜️... as the prophet Isaiah spoke of... flow flow flow... starting with me even... so we all may refresh and be restored...
- a restoration of the body-of-Christ that not only cohesively reflects our Billy Graham and MLK Jr witnesses... changing us... then impacting this lost world... strengthen me to drop my idols... that are blocking these propec-siac rivers... so we no longer see through this clouded murky window... but see perfectly clear... as in when “the perfect come”...
Come Lord Jesus. Let us mourn that we may receive not only comfort, but this perfect spirit flowing waters love... that brings whole & complete peace that the world isn’t supposed to give me... , love that crosses these chasms... even chasms of race... even then even chasms of thousands of used up wineskins of creeds that divide ... that what our Heavenly Father brings... for his glorified and not my our might... not by our power... in his beautiful glorious time...
Amen.
❤️💚💙💫
Thanks for these words that express how you're trying to manage grief and despair and faith.
I was in conversation last night with a friend who tends towards dull resignation while I am somehow constituted to believe that one day, perhaps soon, we will make a difference.
And perhaps the reality is that an individual can't do much in the face of this deeply embedded system of injustice. Maybe doing the right thing doesn't really make others want to do the right thing. Maybe it doesn't matter much what I or anyone does--the system will roll on like the mighty Mississippi.
At the end of the conversation I had to conclude that yes, there is almost no connection between good intent and good actions and the actual systemic changes that we want to see.
But I still believe that small actions of faith and hope and healing can build up to larger modifications as people are moved to work together.
I can't seem to live outside that faith that I must do what's right because it's right, and *maybe* there will be change. Still, I can't give up even in the face of inexorable resistance to progress and justice.
It's the only thing I have in my pocket: this one thin coin that others call "change"—but I call it "hope," and it keeps me going.