Part of the Solution

We sing a couple of different songs in our early service at St. Andrews Parish UMC that contain the line, "Break my heart for what breaks yours", referring to what breaks God's heart. I was up late in bed last night thinking about those words because of all the pain and suffering. Earlier I had watched the limited news coverage, but more the online coverage of my Twitter feed of what was going on in Ferguson, Missouri. I thought about the rest of the world that is in pain and hurting because of violence and persecution. I thought about more than a few in our congregation here at St. Andrews that are hurting for a variety of reasons. I thought about the family over at Cokesbury who will celebrate the life of member tomorrow. So yeah, if the prayer is "break my heart for what breaks yours", I'm pretty brokenhearted because I think God is pretty brokenhearted. 

So my natural tendency is to ask the question, "What am I going to do about it?" I preach about the fact that we cannot choose our situations and circumstance in life at times because of the decisions and choices of others, but we can choose how we will respond. So I challenge myself in my mind about how I am going to respond to this. It is not easy. It kept me up last night. There is a lot of pain. There is a lot of hurt.

So here's what I have come up with. First and foremost, I am no longer going to sit passively by and let someone spew hatred. If you put that junk out there in conversation or on your feed on Facebook or out there on Twitter, I will respond appropriately and take actions to where I no longer have to see or hear it. And I'm not giving free passes out anymore because 'that's the way it has always been'. You demean another human being because of race, gender, sexual orientation, political belief, culture, where they are from, or whatever it may be, consider yourself warned. That junk don't fly anymore. I'll call you on it. I promise.

The next thing I am going to do is pick up the phone and I'm going to call a local school in the area that I know needs mentors and I'm going to volunteer. Somewhere there is another little guy or gal who needs another positive influence on his or her life. I've got a little time and sometimes that's all I've got. I'm going to challenge my congregation to do the same. Here's the deal, if it can happen in Ferguson, it can happen in West Ashley. And I am not here to say who is right and who is wrong in that situation. Crimes against humanity have been committed. And I am not going to be a part of the problem. I want to be a part of the solution.

I'm going to send my kid to school for the first time, a public school, a big school. And I'm going to be fearful that an armed guard has to be at the school at all times. So I'm going to pray for that school. I'm going to pray for our community. I'm going to pray for Charleston and the surrounding areas. I'm going to pray to God that the stuff that is happening in other parts of the world doesn't happen here. But if it should, and it will, because evil is all around us, I'm going to call it out. No longer am I going to hide in the shadows because of the darkness that is around. I'm going to speak light into that darkness. I'm going to teach my children that they matter and they are of sacred worth no matter what the world would tell them. And that they are to treat other human beings as such, that they too are of value and of worth. And that they are no better or no worse than anyone else. And I'm going to ensure that every chance I get to tell them how much I love them, to affirm them, to build them up, I will because, as of right now, the world will beat them down. And so when I coach the soccer team next Tuesday for the first time ever coaching my own child's team, I am going to make sure those 6 little boys feel that same encouragement. That they begin to work as a team even though they don't know each other. That they are bound by the blood that runs in their veins. We are going to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.

Lastly, when we get the chance, we are going to have dance parties at my house. Like the Delta Rae song says, "I want to dance in the graveyards." It feels like there is a lot of dead-ness around us. We are called to be people of hope, joy, love, peace, and light. Below is a link to the spontaneous dance party that broke out last night in my kitchen. Make sure you turn the volume up to hear the song. Hopefully it'll bring a little light and a little smile to you. I've only watched it about 100 times because I need a little light and I need to smile.

Kitchen Dance Party