What is going on?!

​If you are anything like me and you are on social media, watching the news, or simply talking to others, you are being inundated with information, opinions and ideas related to the current social situation in our country. I have heard or read more on issues of race and social injustice in the past 2 weeks than I can remember ever having done before. Sometimes it is difficult to parse what is useful from what is not. Many people smarter and more informed than I have written or spoken in ways that I admire and that resonate with me.
 
I honestly have no desire to add useless chatter but writing helps me frame my thoughts and process what God might be doing in and around me. So if you find this encouraging, great. If not, that’s OK – it certainly helped me.
 
WHAT IS GOING ON?!
- A man is choked to death by the authorities while those standing around do nothing.
- A young man is chased down and shot while jogging.
- A man is assaulted verbally and harassed while doing nothing but bird watching.
WHAT IS GOING ON?!
- People riot and damage property in protest of injustice.
- Rhetoric and verbal abuse increases in volume and intensity.
- Violence begets more violence.
WHAT IS GOING ON?!
- Politicians and those in power use the situation to advance their own selfish ends.
- Leaders foment division and strife.
- Hatred, anger, justification and defensiveness seem to be on the rise.
  . . . and this is all in just the last 2 weeks.
WHAT IS GOING ON?!
- 2020 has seen a virus sweep the globe killing hundreds of thousands.
- Governments have used the situation to grab and grasp for power.
- Churches and small business are shut down and millions are out of work.
- Vast parts of earth are threatened with starvation and economic ruin.
- Anxiety, depression, and suicides increase.
WHAT IS GOING ON?!
 
It seems like a time of chaos. Unfairness. Helplessness. A time that prompts the kind of dialogue I like to avoid. If I’m honest, I am tempted to turn off the news, hunker down, and come back up for air when things have returned back to some semblance of normal. But maybe what I really mean is that I want to return to what is comfortable. I began to consider that perhaps, as a follow of Jesus, I might be asking the right question with the wrong emphasis. Maybe in the midst of all that looks horrible and the actions that reveal the selfishness of humanity, there IS something going on. Something that has the opportunity to be good.
 
WHAT IS GOING ON?
- Perhaps God is at work.
- Maybe he knows how to bring beauty from ashes.
- Just maybe, God knows how to use bad for good purposes.
WHAT IS GOING ON?
- Maybe we are finally having the right conversations.
- Personal convictions and motivations are being challenged.
- My own racist tendencies are being revealed by a loving father who wants me to deal with them.
WHAT IS GOING ON?
- Perhaps God is calling his church to a greater and visible role in justice and mercy.
- Maybe he is challenging long-held and erroneous assumptions.
- Maybe he is opening the door for real and long-lasting reconciliation.
WHAT IS GOING ON?
- Possibly God is bringing a chance for repentance and forgiveness.
- Perhaps is working to bring unity in the midst of diversity.
- Maybe, just maybe, Jesus is inviting us into something deeper and to take our eyes and hope and put them back where he always intended.
WHAT IS GOING ON?
 
I don’t know about you, but I choose to not waste this opportunity. There IS something going on. God is up to something. Something that gives me hope. God, may you do your work in me, in our church, in our nation and in our world. Make me a person who reflects your heart and really lives out your heart’s desire for me to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.”