Crossing Bridges by Neil Singh
Do the words, “Black Lives Matter” cause a reaction in you in some way, either with passion for justice, or righteous anger at being unfairly criticized? Is your instinct to take a sign and protest? Or is your first response, “NO! All lives matter”?
Do you hear the phrase “White Privilege” and think that is a fable of the left wing liberals? Or do you hear “White Privilege” and think “that is obvious, I’ve lived under that my entire life – how could you even question that it exists?”
Do you believe that racism exists in Canada (and the USA), with inbred systems that have held up racist policies for decades or centuries? That there is a reality of systemic racism that people of colour, indigenous people, black people live under? Or do you believe that this is again, another ploy of socialists meant to undermine the church, the right-wing leaders of policy and government, undermining the institutions of law and order?
Do you want to hear what the bible says about these things? Full disclosure: I am brown. I am a person of colour. I am Canadian, born and bred, and yet I have been told to go back to where I came from (I laugh and say, “Revelstoke? You want me to go back to Revelstoke?”). As a high school teen, I was attacked by a gang of five white hockey players. I have had graffiti sprayed on my house, windows broken, my brother has been attacked, my mother and father have been attacked. I was put in hospital for three days with a concussion.
When John Lewis, U.S. congressman, died a couple of weeks ago, his funeral procession took him over the Edmund Pettus bridge – a bridge that is still named after a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. A bridge that he crossed in 1965, as part of the march on Washington, that led to a beating that nearly cost him his life.
Yet Jesus regularly crossed over into areas where he was not welcome, crossing bridges and roads to bring people together. The bible tells us to love one another, to do everything in love. Without love, all our efforts are just noise, clanging cymbals. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul admonishes the Corinthian church for resting on their privilege.
Come to church on Sunday, August 9, 2020, as we explore how racism has affected my life, how privileged each and every one of us are, and what the word of God says we should do with our privilege. Let us explore what it means to cross bridges together.