Friends, as the Community Pastor, I feel compelled to write in response to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

This is a post of lament first, reflection second. This is not intended to be a critique of white people or the “white church,” although because I am white my experience will inevitably feel this way. My intention is only to represent my own thoughts and feelings. My ultimate aim is to:

1. Engage with the pain of the African American community and people of color, both at large and who attend CHBC, and
2. Offer reflections from Scripture that might lend to Spirit-empowered conviction and action for my fellow white brothers and sisters.

In times like these I turn to Psalms of lament. I will use Psalm 13 to guide my thoughts. 

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Psalm 13:1-2

This question, How long, O Lord?, keeps coming to mind as I reflect on Ahmaud’s death. Now, I can’t claim the same emotion David has in these Psalms as he is sitting in a season of enemy oppression, fearing for his life. 

But I can empathize both on the account of history and the testimonies of my friends of color with the deep wounds caused by the trauma of white supremacy terror that has yet again been reopened by the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. I can’t help but think after these events people of color, namely the African American community, feel like David –– behind enemy lines longing for the end of such oppression. I grieve that even after so many tragic deaths this oppression is so easily forgotten. And for this, I am sorry. This is not your fault. You are fearfully and wonderfully and beautifully made in the image of God. 

Although, I can’t experience the weight of this event in the same way I did feel something. Upon hearing this news from my wife (I am not on social media right now), I immediately had a disappointed feeling, but moved on with my day and finished whatever I was working on. But once I watched the video account of the murder, my general disappointment turned to gut-wrenching anger and sadness, the same emotions I feel when I read about historic accounts of lynchings. How could I not feel that way after watching Ahmaud get confronted at gun point and shot to death, another black man’s body hitting the ground. 

It became so real in that moment. And this is important for white people to understand –– 

For the African American community this is an everyday reality and fear engrained into the fabric of their American existence ––  they didn’t need to watch the video for the 400 year old trauma to surface nor to believe without speculation that another unarmed black man was shot to death. 

All this to be said, white people, use discernment on what you can handle, but I’d encourage you to no longer hide your face and instead watch, you may share in the pain to understand the narrative of African Americans. 

I lament this is the narrative that still exists in this country. I lament because as Christ suffered, I too am called to share in his sufferings (Phil. 3:10), and also in the sufferings of his body, the Church (Col. 1:24). Another unarmed black man was murdered by the hands of white men. Period. “If one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor. 12:26). 

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 

Psalm 13:3-4

The Lord did consider and answer David through Christ –– the incarnation, sacrifice, resurrection and ascension of love. We have the answer! The Lord is calling his Church to be the answer. Only the Church can truly achieve this answer of love, justice and righteousness on earth because we know the One who IS Love, Justice and Righteousness, most demonstrably through the cross, when Jesus the King triumphed in victory over his enemies, putting them to shame (Col. 2:15). 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. coined this mindset as the “fierce urgency of now.” Let us not stand on the sidelines any longer and let the enemy “prevail” over our brothers and sisters of color, pulling them back into their historic shame. Let us take action now and pursue with the love of Christ what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s entire civil rights campaign was built on: the vision of the “Beloved Community”.^[1]

Restoration will come through healing of our communities namely through agape love. Seeing justice take place with the murder and aggravated assault charges deemed on the McMichael men was a necessary ingredient to fight this evil. However, I glean from Jemar Tisby’s^[2] wisdom: “This will not be popular with some, but putting these men in cages won’t change much. These men and Ahmaud’s family need restorative justice. There needs to be healing (to the extent possible with such a crime) and not just incarceration.”  

And the first step I suggest is to simply lament. The more we understand, the better we can love. Secondly, share in the shame of their story. Build authentic friendships with people of color so they may be known by you. The more our African American friends are known the more this narrative will not define them. Jesus certainly doesn’t define them this way. Let us tell a truer story. Thirdly, pray for your enemies (Matt. 5:44), namely the McMichael men, as hard as that may be. 

But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. 

Psalm 13:5-6

As all Psalms of lament trend upward to praise I have confidence my African American brothers and sisters are standing firm in their faith clinging to the only currency they had for hundreds of years as enslaved people — Hope.  I lament so I can learn from seasoned veterans what it means to cling to God as my ultimate hope. And I will sing to the Lord but in the tune of the African American spiritual, Walk Together, Children as a reminder to never grow tired of fighting for love, justice and righteousness until the day all tribes, tongues and nations will meet together for the “great camp meeting in the promised land”. I hope you’ll sing along: 

Oh, walk together children
Don’t you get weary
Walk together children
Don’t you get weary
Walk together children
Don’t you get weary
There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land

Goin’ to mourn and never tire,
Mourn and never tire,
Mourn and never tire,
There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land 

Oh, clap together children
Don’t you get weary
Clap together children
Don’t you get weary
Clap together children
Don’t you get weary
There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land

Goin’ to shout and never tire,
Shout and never tire,
Shout and never tire,
There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land. 

Oh, sing together children
Don’t you get weary
Sing together children
Don’t you get weary
Sing together children
Don’t you get weary
There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land

Walk Together, Children

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^[1] For more reading on “Beloved Community” check out The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice, From the Civil Rights Movement to Today by Charles Marsh. 

^[2] Jemar is the author of The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism. I highly recommend his book to learn more about the African American narrative I have spoken of.