Thursday, September 28, 2017

“It’s Time to Protest!”
It was the fall of 1963, toward the end of our football season, when our coach called a meeting of all the players from JV and Varsity together as we dressed for an afternoon practice. We all wondered what it was all about since we never had combined meetings like this in the past. “Boys,” he began, “Next fall we will be joined by the students of Douglass High School. These boys are no different than you. They put their pants on one leg at a time, just like us. There will be no problems.”
          That was the meeting. These are probably not the exact words, but the thoughts are what we heard that afternoon over fifty years ago. Douglass High School was an all-black school, and we would be integrating the following year. Unlike many schools at the time integration went smoothly and without any serious issues. As I remember it went so smoothly that it went virtually unnoticed by the students. I know there were probably some issues, but as far as the football team was concerned, “there were no problems.”
          Prejudice as always been and will always be an issue in every society. It may not be black and white, but it will exist, dividing people by race, sex, nationality, and even viewpoints. The events of the past few years have taken me back to what I would see in the news of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. I thought we were past most of that and making progress until it raised its ugly head again. At first, I thought it was like taking one step back but then realized prejudice has always been there in some form or another and like an injury that lingers, occasionally, expressing itself in pain.
          Protests of inequality and discrimination are taking all forms from riots to kneeling during the National Anthem. Some are peaceful, and some are violent. Some done by well-meaning people who truly want to make a difference while others attract the few who just want to show they are mad and stir things up.
          So where does the “Church” step in? We protest! However, we protest by kneeling, not when we hear the National Anthem, but by kneeling in the presence of God to give us the strength to be drawn together for the good of all men. We protest! Not by attacking each other in riots, but by embracing each other with the love of Christ and caring for one another no matter the color of skin or language we speak. We protest! Not by turning over cars, burning buildings, and looting, but by helping those who are less fortunate. We protest! Not by calling people names, but by holding hands, working together for the betterment of all men and women. We protest! Not by dividing, but by adding to the Kingdom through sharing Jesus in his ways with a lost world.
          It seems that most of the national news is always building on the negative. I’ve gotten to where I have become frustrated with always hearing the bad. However, there is one news piece I stop and listen to every time I hear it come on. I don’t know what network it’s on, but the segment is usually only a couple of minutes, and they entitle it “America Strong.”
It is always something positive. That’s exactly what we as Christians should always be portraying. In a world that is lost and hurt. In a world, full of chaos and depression there is always something positive to lean on, Jesus Christ.
          I encourage us all to be positive. Protest the world by doing what is good and right in the eyes of Jesus. Don’t let the world change us, work on changing the world. We can’t change it all at once, but each of us in our daily interaction with people can work at changing it one person at a time.
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Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
Hebrews 10:23-24



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