Protesters were the parents of
the United States. Since 1773, we have
been a nation of people who use protest to speak truth to power. If you are drinking coffee as you read this, as
opposed to tea, you can thank the protest born in Boston’s harbors for making
tea the less-favored hot drink of a new nation being born.
Ever since then our nation
has been populated by protesters.
Protest and protesters are as ‘American as apple pie’.
How would Jesus respond to
the latest protests, today’s Black Lives Matters crowds, which have taken place
in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., in over 2000 cities and towns?
The protesters gather in crowds
large and small everywhere now, and I think that is where Jesus would send his
disciples, into the crowds.
When Jesus saw crowds he didn’t
get angry or walk away to a retreat. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion
on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a
shepherd.” His compassion for the crowds led him to observe: “The harvest is
plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to
send out workers to his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:36-37)
When you see crowds in action
do you see a ‘problem’ or an ‘opportunity’?
When you see protesters gathered
do you see a harvest field? Are you
willing to be one of the few who will work in that field?
“We walk towards God’s
inbreaking justice in the world, which is coming whether we are flying,
running, or crawling. Our small acts of justice – those single steps that we
refuse to stop doing, even though we can’t see how they’ll make a difference –
are met by a generous, just God who is multiplying our small efforts into
making all things new.”
–Laura Jean Truman, “Radvent – Day 11“ (Source:
inward/outward.org)
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