Please heal the racial divide Jesus! Church RISE UP!
We took a road trip to Tennessee last weekend for a wedding. It was beautiful celebrating our dear friends coming together as ONE. We had fun together as a family with old friends and new. Southern hospitality is a real thing and we were so blessed by our new friends who generously hosted our large family (and a couple of friends we brought along!). They housed us, fed us, loved on us, offered to lend us their car when we misplaced our keys, and we met for the first time last weekend! (We are good friends with their son). I was honestly blown away and so beyond grateful for their hospitality!
But there was one thing that deeply grieved my heart last weekend as we were driving and I still cannot shake it out of my head. We were trying to find our friend's home in these country roads near Nashville. I was driving and the GPS kept re-routing us since the road we were supposed to turn on was closed. We had to turn around a few times to figure out the proper direction. As we were driving along, we came upon a house proudly flying the confederate flag. I was shocked!
Seriously, I honestly didn't know that real Americans still did this. I was and am still horrified and deeply grieved. How can someone so proudly hang a flag that symbolizes oppression, slavery, and racism? When I mentioned my horror to my friends upon arrival at their home, they apologetically told me that this is sadly not an uncommon practice in the South. I was again, SHOCKED AND GRIEVED. In the past, I have heard people defend the hanging of confederate flags because it symbolizes their "southern heritage," but seriously people, have you thought this through? How can you hang a symbol of something that honestly provokes feelings of fear, anxiety, and worry in minorities? After passing that house, I literally felt nervous and on edge for my family's safety and well being. This might be an irrational fear, but after watching stuff on the news about how African-American people are being treated in our own country...I dunno if it's irrational.
What this flag symbolizes to me, a fellow American, is hatred, racism, white supremacy, the desire to uphold the oppression of a people group. The confederate flag is NOT a neutral symbol of history. Hanging the confederate flag is NOT equivalent to hanging up your grandma's beautiful antique plates on your dining room wall. It's not. Can someone hang up a Nazi flag? Is that ok? In Germany I have heard from my German friends that this is not tolerated because it symbolizes a SHAMEFUL and HORRIBLE time in their history. Yet, why do some Americans still think hanging the confederate flag is ok? At the end of the day, all I can say is CHURCH RISE UP. The South is considered a more Christian area, the Bible Belt, etc. CHURCH RISE UP! My prayer is that we as the Body of Christ can take a stand against this nonsense! I pray that there will be no Christian hanging the confederate flag anywhere in the south. If by chance you are a Christian reading this and do hang the confederate flag, I urge you to PLEASE take it down. Take a stand for what is right.
We are the Body of Christ, please think about how doing this would make your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are minorities feel. May we truly be the SALT and LIGHT of the earth as the Bible says in Matthew 5:13-16. May all races be WELCOMED and EMBRACED. By the way, our sweet friends getting married were a bi-racial couple. I loved witnessing their beautiful families EMBRACING each other in love. May the Lord continue to break down the dividing walls and bring healing and restoration. May the church truly rise up in this hour and stand up for justice and love above culture. Let us truly be ONE NATION, UNDER GOD...