If murder is poison, we need an antidote. The chaos, violence and the unholy
permission of certain ideologies toward wanton destruction and brutality need
undoing. That undoing is calling all our names to act with honor.
We have a powerful moral imagination born of the great Creator God who sees
the value of each human life and the hope of building beloved community through
mutual sacrifice and love of neighbor. As black, white, blue and brown
Americans, we have a moral imagination for justice. Our nation was born of a
commitment to human rights and civil institutions that enable people to
participate in making true justice and honoring life together.
These comments come from Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter in the wake of the murder
of 3 Baton Rouge police officers on July 17, 2016. Her entire statement can be read here, https://cbfblog.com/2016/07/17/paynter-honor-moral-imagination-are-antidotes-to-the-poison-of-murder/.
I love her phrase ‘moral
imagination,’ and I love that she links this phrase to our ‘Creator God.’ God is many things. Lord, Savior, Sustainer, and Creator are a few
of the roles God fills. In God’s
original creation, the word to describe what God had done was ‘good.’ God looked and saw that it was good (Genesis
1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25).
God is still creating good
things today. One of the numerous
insidious ways acts of evil undercut human thriving is the way they are magnified
in our thought. Good stories just don’t
grab our attention the way horrible ones do.
Children’s Hope Chest provides
education and food for economically struggling children in Kombolcha,
Ethiopia. No one reports it. Isis soldiers make a public spectacle of
beheading people they’ve captured: it’s the BBC lead.
Habitat for Humanity brings
Christians from five different denominations together to help people into the
life of home ownership as an entire block of new homes goes up in Chapel
Hill. WRAL in Raleigh doesn’t utter a
peep. Police officers kill unarmed black
young men; and then police officers (not the ones who shot the young black men,
but rather those keeping order so a protest can be possible) are killed. News outlets go crazy (as does Twitter and
Facebook).
HillSong Church (and many
other churches) gives away hundreds of dollars each month to help struggling
families pay their utilities’ bills. CNN
doesn’t know and does not care. A
terrorist kills dozens of people in France by running them over with a truck. It’s broadcast worldwide.
My point is not that the
tragedies and horrors should be ignored.
They shouldn’t. They need to be
faced, confronted, and especially, followers of Jesus must actively opposed
evil. No, my point is not that these
stories of terror and sorrow should be swept under the rug.
My point is that these aren’t
the only stories. There are good stories
to be told of how God is active in the world, helping people thrive. God is doing this through His body, the
church. Using our ‘moral imagination’
(thank you Ms. Paynter for this wonderful phrase), we followers of Jesus move
in rhythm with the Holy Spirit to unlock the creativity God has planted in our
minds. We imaginatively tell the good
that God is working in the world.
Moreover, we seek new places to join God as God works to save the world
that’s fallen in sin and sinking into destruction.
Through imagination that leads
to constructive conversations and to actions that help people thrive, the body
of Christ competes with evil. The Enemy
collaborates with the media’s lust for headlines. The body of Christ counters with stories and
actions of love that promote health, spiritual and relational wellbeing, and
help people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. We Christians insist that our narrative will
compete with the sad saga of evil, and our good news will win out because it is
nourished by the Spirit of God.
There is a time to weep and to
lament, but our tears are most moving because beyond the sickly gray of death
is the blinding illumination emanating from the empty tomb. Our Lord Jesus has defeated death and his
resurrection provides hope this summer of terrors cannot dampen. Jesus told us to let our light shine. He is our Light. We tell his story and evil is vanquished.
I pray Christians will,
through worship and prayer, tap into our moral imagination that we might offer
our competing narrative, a tale of transforming, saving love. I pray the summer of 2016 will be remembered
for the way the good news of Jesus became the dominant story.
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