The Hebrews writer calls God’s people to play their lives out in harmony with the people around them (Heb. 12:14). One might argue that seeking peace is a visual demonstration of a holy life, a requirement by God. Since harmony will not happen on its own, we’re called to “make every effort” to ensure a peaceful harmony. Such melodious sound is felt, not only within the church community, but is experienced when we step outside of church doors and into the world.
Unfortunately, too much dissonance has been, and is being, heard in the world. Instead of tuning the world, the church has too often been the source of dissonance. Or worse, the church has chosen silence. How do we speak peace and bring harmony where so much dissonance is heard?
When Botham Jean was murdered by an off-duty Dallas police officer, but still in uniform, he was shot in his own apartment while eating ice cream. The police tried covering it up and began a “smear campaign” against Botham. When Breonna Taylor was murdered by the Louisville Narcotics Department, they were executing a drug warrant at the wrong apartment. The family claims officers never identified themselves before/when breaking in. She was shot eight times. The police are being accused of covering it up while tarnishing her reputation.
Then there’s Ahmaud Arbery who was out for a jog in his Brunswick, Georgia neighborhood when a father and son confronted him as a burglar suspect. Intending to make a citizen’s arrest, the confrontation escalated into an argument, then into a scuffle until he was fatally shot. The attorney assigned to the case failed to file any charges (the father was a former police officer and the son had a job connection). A video showing the altercation had to surface first before a new prosecutor was assigned to the case so that an arrest could be made.
The perpetrators’ story fit in a long line of dissonant voices defaulting to false rational. According to James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, nearly five thousand people of color were lynched between 1882 and 1968. Most, if not all, were falsely accused and refused due-process. “They looked like trouble” became the measure of justice. A crime was committed, so it was penned on a local black man. Maybe he took a second look at someone’s wife or daughter or the way he strutted offended the white community. Almost like the case in Georgia, Arbery looked suspicious (whatever that means). Arbery looked suspicious, so he was confronted. Their story and rationale really does line up with history whenever people justified a lynching.
If we’re going to help bring harmony, then we need to speak out against the dissonance. As Edmond Burk once said, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” As long as (white) Christians remain silent, look the other way or gaslight the issue, racism will continue its pervasive infection, destroying our society in the process. Someone has to admit to playing the wrong note, why not us?
If we’re going to help restore harmony, then we need to seek forgiveness for the dissonance. Because of our individualism, we lack the understanding of community sin. No, I didn’t own slaves. No, I have never participated in a lynching. No, I have never used the “N” word against my neighbor. But I am a part of a society whose history is filled with those actions. If I claim the good in this nation, then I need to be willing to own the bad.
If we’re going to help restore harmony, then we need to educate ourselves on the dissonance and its causes. No doubt, too many assumptions have been made and it’s past time to view the world trough someone else’s eyes (see 2 Cor. 5:16ff [Paul addresses reconciliation]). Talk to the Black community. Read James Cone or others like him. Take a day and tour the Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati. Try to understand the plight of the people of color.
The Hebrews writer calls us to play in tune and to make every effort to achieve in harmony. Left to its own, we’ll never do it. If we make the effort, we have a chance for some beautiful music.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)