Create in me a clean heart, O God…
I heard a term used to describe this country today: anger incubator. How did we become such a strident society? One of an us versus them: liberal vs. conservative, Democrat vs. Republican, white people vs people of color, legal immigrants vs. illegal immigrants, police vs. everyone else, and so on. We went from being a tolerant society to a society that says I’m tolerant of anything as long as you believe my way. Hiding behind our phones, the world has become impersonal.
As tragic as the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery were, there have been others who died under circumstances just as devastating, yet the reaction was not one of horror—globally protested. What changed?
People more astute than I have ventured an opinion as to why. Certainly we’ve made progress in race relations. Perhaps we’re waking up to states of being that have been simmering under the surface for a long time: race inequities, class differences, competition for diminishing resources, the need to identify with a group.
Am I Really that Naïve?
I’m not a sports enthusiast. Never read the sports section. So it was a bit odd that I chose to read an interview with the Chargers coach, Anthony Lynn. In it he said:
I have a lot of good white friends and I’ve said to them that sometimes I feel our biggest enemy in this fight is good white people because they don’t believe people can do the things they do and be this evil. They just don’t believe it. And I’m like, Guys, you are so naïve and you’re so naïve because you’re really good people. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, but your naïveté is hindering the cause.
He may be on to something. And then I saw the T-shirt that said “Silence is Violence.” That’s the updated version of the Edmund Burke quote: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Covid 19
What’s different may be the virus that has quarantined the entire world. Without the distraction of normal routines, we’ve been able to PAY ATTENTION to what is going on around us, examine who we are, what we’re doing, and the values we hold. From where I sit, it looks like people are ready to have a conversation, and to do something about the tough issues.
Unexpectedly Covid 19 has improved the condition of our planet: cleaner air, reduced carbon emissions, clearer waterways, quieter oceans. For us humans, however, it has been devastating for some: lives lost, loss of income, depression, and for others, good has surfaced, innovation flourished, goals examined. For all of us (except for those in essential services, and God bless them), no longer can we say if only I had more time to:
-
- be with my kids
- keep in touch with my parents
- listen to my friends
- finish projects
And here’s the big one: if only I had time to think about how we treat each other—how we love one another. Is not loving each other the key to the quality of life, and when it comes down to it, is that not the key to survival? Has God not told us, from the beginning, that we are all equal in his eyes, and our only job is to love him and love others? I’d hate to see our report card.
So here’s what I can do.
I will pray.
Create in my heart a color of purity, O God. Help me forgive others, O God.
Help me show love to others, even to my enemy, O God.
I will educate myself, being careful to learn what is true and what is really masked as an agenda about something else.
I will start talking to those around me, asking more than Hi, how are you. I will fill in the gaps of what I know and what I don’t know about others. I will acknowledge that words have power; power to define reality for the one who says them and for the one who hears them, and speak accordingly.
I’m in a Bible Study with five other women, all white, and the events of the last three months have caused us to see that we must do more than talk amongst ourselves. We are going to join with a like number of black women and talk. We want to get to know them and they want to get to know us. There are some great books for book clubs, secular or otherwise, to tackle. Check out The Third Option by Miles McPherson and Oneness Embraced by Tony Evans.
In our getting to know each other, I suspect we’re going to confront a lot of assumptions, and that’s a good thing. For example, in a recent Wall Street Journal piece, (6/24/20, No, Police Racism Isn’t an Epidemic), black columnist Jason L. Riley begins by saying: “So far, we haven’t seen a shred of evidence that George Floyd’s death in police custody last month was racially motivated. But for those looking to exploit the incident, that doesn’t seem to matter.” Wow. We can talk about that one all day long. Read the story here.
In Psalm 20:7 King David says that unlike him, some put their trust in earthly things. Should we not be more like David and 
trust God? We must pray and listen to God, and then he will direct our next steps.
Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV) says: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” What color is my heart? I want it to be pure and transparent.
Maybe that’s a question more of us should ask.