Thoughts on Ferguson

I have started this post four times, and couldn't find the words to say. My eyes and heart are weary, but I keep reading about Ferguson. I find article after article, reading all the way down to the often misguided comments.

The fact that African Americans are still fighting this fight to be looked at as human is discouraging, and I am angry at how often minorities are asked to prove that racism still exists. It does.  On the way down to Vanderbilt, my family had an experience that felt like we were in a time warp. We entered a restaurant hoping to get some breakfast to-go. The staff ignored us. We called them out on it. They still made no effort to serve us, so my family and I high-tailed it out of there. Racism isn't always that overt, but I can assure you that it is still more pervasive than you think.

One would hope that Christians would be different. That servants of the God who loves justice and his Son who sought out the disenfranchised would stand up against injustices. Instead I hear... well, nothing. (Or defenses of prejudice, but that is a whole other issue.)

I'm not going to write a political analysis about Ferguson. The police were wrong to shoot an unarmed man six times. Mike Brown was wrong to steal from a store. The people in his community were wrong to loot. Satan is busy whispering lies of hate and indifference. And the church is buying it.

Here

James is the book of the the Bible that I go to when I need a kick in the pants. I started reading it to jumpstart my senior year, and was surprised by the parallels between James and the situation in Ferguson. James condemns favoritism (read prejudice.) He tells the church that faith without deeds is dead and that believers should actually do what the Bible says. (Do you know how much the Bible talks about justice? A whole lot.)  If you are a believer, I encourage you to prayerfully read through James and let the Holy Spirit speak to you.

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Taylor