Acting Together On Our Knees

we're going to talk a little bit now about the issues this is where it gets tough and so these two individuals are going to talk a little bit about what the issues are and so here we go this young man over here is pastor Eric Gordon this right here that was our intro huh hi so what happened was we took a nationwide vote of all blacks and they chose me to speak on behalf of the entire race and Eric I think you did something similar I did I did I only got 90 percent of the whites but so I'm not speaking for all of us tonight but most of us so clearly we cannot speak on behalf of an entire race even within one race there's so many different experiences and perspectives but what we wanted to do was to not only have a time of prayer and worship which is awesome has been awesome by the way Heather not van been amazing amazing we also wanted to take a few minutes just to talk about a few of the top issues that have been really at the forefront given the past events of the recent recent days and this is not going to cover every possible answer or solution but tonight really is about initiating dialogue having courageous conversations trying to understand what the other person thinks it's the spirit of Philippians 2:3 that says put your brother's interests above your own have this mind like Christ a spirit of humility that says can you can you lower yourself and elevate the perspective of another and sometimes we cannot do that because we don't even know their perspective and so we want to take a few minutes to just touch on those issues very quickly just so you can have something to begin your own dialogues is that Alright okay so one of the first things that has come up that I've had my own discussions about has been the difference between all lives matter and black lives matter so that that issue has come up several times amongst my black friends amongst my white friends amongst my non black and non white friends who are like what white eye matter right and so they're just confused as to what matters and so I explained to them yes you can have a broad context of something that is important but when there is an injustice or a particular group that is the focus of a moment you might see additional energy or effort geared toward that group it does not mean that I don't think all lives matter for me to say that black lives matter and so I explained to them I said it's like if I walked in the middle of a Susan G Komen March for the Cure and they prove a they promote cures and solutions for what kind of cancer right everybody knows that and so if I walked in there and said my grandfather died of prostate cancer all cancer is bad they would probably say we know but that's not why we're here today and so you can support broader issues and still support niche issues within broader topics what do you think about that area yeah speak for the ways on behalf of white America thank you you know someone's recording this turn it off no my disclaim here's my disclaimer on the front end because because we what we're letting you in on is is our office conversations we're if you sat in our office you were anything but politically correct but it's an environment where we can say wrong stuff and be giving grace for it and so I just want my disclaimer on the front ends I'm gonna say some things wrong tonight I'm gonna say wrong words or wrong phrases and some of you have an opportunity to get mad at me or posted on on YouTube or whatever you need to do but part of the ability to have the conversation is is the the freedom to say wrong things because I'm coming from my perspective so so here's my perspective on it for all the the non black people out there who are posting all lives matter blue lives matter stop and here's my analogy it's about as effective as when you're your spouse brings an issue to you then you turn around and point out their issue right how many of you that work for in your marriage when she says I need to put my bowl away and I say well you don't put your clothes away what what I do is I minimize what she's dealing with and so I think when we Jedi said all lives do matter but when I go to the doctor because my appendix is bursting I don't need to know that my other organs matter too I need I need the one that may cause me to die to be taken care of and so the the idea is we have an injustice and mistreatment of a specific group of people and we need to expose that so that we can have some change in there and so I think that that's one thing I would say the other thing for for a white person I need to understand how to help and I need to understand what what it is I'm engaging in if that makes sense so I just because I want to know I do research and so I googled videos I've looked at the black lives matter website and I'm probably more confused now than I was no really because on the black lives matter website the three women that kind of started the movement are pushing for all types of equality for queer and transgender black women they're pushing for all kinds of stuff and I thought it was just the police brutality deal so I think for me I need to understand what I'm what I'm engaging in and then how do I do that and disclosing on that topic just for your own discussion I think too as when you're talking to black people I need to clarify in personal dialogue what my own grievance is because sometimes I get behind a hashtag or get behind a movement and I'm not even educated on that movement and so then you go educate yourself on the movement I say oh no no that's not what I meant and so the personal dialogue is really where you get your faith in action and that can grow as we begin to understand each other so I think that's a great point great point okay our second issue that has come up has been the idea of black on black crime being the cause of death for blacks versus police and justice and a lot of times we see this discussion where people will say well black on black crime kills more African Americans more black people then then police injustice or they may even begin to quote other statistics and numbers to say that more white people die at the hands of police then then black people do and that can be a little bit skewed and Eric and I had an interesting conversation about that do you want to talk about statistics for a little bit there yeah to me that's another one areas just stop I have it's probably been one of my my biggest areas of disappointment on Facebook right because everybody's an expert on Facebook and everybody's got you know courage to boast on Facebook but just seeing meme after meme of you know last year two hundred and thirty two blacks killed four hundred and fourteen White's killed by police well look at the demographics that's still not even right the country's sixty-seven percent white and so I've seen I've seen memes post it up you're more likely to get struck by lightning than killed by a cop none of that matters the point is if I have one child who dies because of mistreatment or injustice that that's important so it's not the percentage it's not the message just stop we're comparing apples and oranges yeah there's more people die from stroke and high blood pressure I get it but we're trying to deal with a systemic mistreatment of a specific group of people let's stay there so that would be my absolutely and I'll add one more thought to that I was just actually having a discussion with one of our priest team in perspective and she made the point as well that it's a different issue when you're talking about your peer to peer groups versus the group that you're supposed to feel safe and protected by and so for example we don't want our students having sex in high school right but we don't respond the same way is when a teacher has sex with a student it's just a very different thing when there's a group that you expect protection and safety from and you feel like you're on edge it's like I can talk about my sister but you can't talk about my sister everybody knows the family rules right and so what we're trying to do is help us to understand how the family dynamic works that even as we resolve our issues and I am certainly not negating the issues in the black community they are there and they are real but we need the freedom and the space to work those things out still feeling the same amount of safety and protection as as our white brothers and sisters and so when you talk about that be very careful because it again can minimize the issue and it becomes divergent to what the true issue is being able to feel protected and safe by those who are given that charge for us right good deal all right you don't have to pay every time it's okay is that right we're getting paid later where's my husband oh we can pay No just checking sometimes you can throw it out in a crowd then you can bring it up for accountability but okay okay there's there's another issue I want to bring up and that is the idea of okay are you all ready this one's a little tense y'all alright y'all love Jesus still come on good good father Birmingham all right okay that's because one of the issues I want to talk about really quickly is the idea that very often the discussion of race is just plain uncomfortable for white people it's just it's there's not a comfort level because there's not an intrinsic understanding of their context and on the flip side of that you have the discomfort that is felt by many non blacks many whites in that discussion but you also have the demandingness of many blacks in that discussion and sometimes we come to the table and we are so frustrated we say I need you to understand what I'm feeling right now today and if you cannot relate if you're not ready to take up your sign and March with me you must be a racist I'm not exaggerating and so if we want to keep dialogue if you want to stay engaged then how do we begin to understand that discomfort that may be there for some we're not speaking for everyone and that demanding is but that defensiveness that comes from impatience and frustration that may be there for African Americans so Eirik discomfort that's yours this come white discomfort discomfortable right now yeah so I'm comfortable one because I work at this church but I'm still under I'm still uncomfortable so I think when when one as she said if there's a demanding approach that can be perceived as aggressive and and an attack always elicits a defensive response so I think sometimes that's why you see black lives matter we got to post all lives matter or police lines so we feel like we're responding to something but I think I think for for white people have some grace understanding I don't even know what words are okay to use sometimes so do is black okay or do I have to go african-american every every time some of you giggle but but how do I know because I've used different words and different people have looked at me different ways so I don't now there's clearly some that are off but don't give examples don't give examples we know we know so there's a discomfort there and then and then and then you've got to give us time to respond because and I'm speaking for me personally this may not be everybody I have no idea what it feels like to be discriminated based on right no idea I've never been looked at funny in a store I've never been pulled over I've never I don't it's to the point I never even think about my race never I never go anywhere thinking hey I'm white hey it's great to be white today I don't there's there's not a there's not a pride in it there's there's not a feeling bad about I don't even think about it and so it takes me a while to get to a place to go okay perfect example I had to add some guys over a Saturday night for UFC fights you can judge me on that if you want and like one fan was favored but in the middle of the night here's a perfect example in the middle of the night one at one of the guys wives called to tell him that he had left his wallet at home so I'm thinking someone just said oh I'm thinking why she bugging you about that man I forget my wallet all the time I said you need gas money to get home I don't even have a place in my mind to process uh-oh we started talking about it he thought oh great if I get pulled over on the way home and I don't have my license me if I get pulled our would be like hey dude I got my license sorry and if he's a mean cop he'll probably write me up if he's a nice copy let me go so I don't even have a place anywhere inside my paradigm for understanding discrimination based on race so there's a discomfort even engaging in the conversation because I know I'm going to say something wrong I know I don't fully understand but I need to be able to if we're going to change the tide I need to be able to ask stupid questions I need to be able to say things that are the offensive and you need to educate me on it I got something are you guys clapping because I'm uneducated and the ignorant what looks like you got loud at the end yeah he's ignorant he don't know he don't know yeah I think that's so important I we were talking about some of the relations if I have what some of my white free is it out I'm like their black safe place and sometimes I'm serious and when you have those authentic friendships you can say don't you ever say that in front of another black person they might not love Jesus and you you need to be able to have those conversations and let me tell you why it's important because one of those friendships actually started because she said something offensive to me and in that moment everything in me you know historic and what my parents said in every experience I had raised up in that moment and the Holy Spirit had to squash that moment and say wait a minute let's take context someone can make a remark that's racially offensive and not be racist at their heart just like you can make remarks jada that are prejudicial all the time and that doesn't mean you have discrimination for that group in your heart so look at who she is look at this friendship was this just a mistake she made because she didn't know and you'll know because if you have an honest dialogue you'll know by her response and when I challenged her on it she was like what I said yes let's have lunch and and and I'm I am serious and let me tell you I know we're laughing a lot here but that's because the issue carries enough attention on its own but but truly it sometimes when you are the offended person when you're the offended group it feels unfair for you to have to extend the olive branch and make it easier for your offender to make peace with you but that's what the Bible calls us to do and being able to do that and in that moment not all the time I had a moment where I could be like Christ where Corinthians tells us he gave us the Ministry of reconciliation he initiated first when we were running the other way when we were guilty he reached out for us and so there are moments let me talk to my but the sisters we're in the midst of your offense and you're hurt give them the opportunity to prove without fail that they are unteachable have no interest and they are absolutely racist will not change at their core let them fail many times over give grace because there there are dialogues and divine interactions that we're missing because our offense is shutting the door so quickly and so because I was able to talk to her we've had an engaging dialogue for many years now and it's been been educational on both sides and so I would say for those that might feel that demanding is that offense Eric really helped me to remember that you're talking to someone who actually has no concept of your paradigm doesn't mean they don't want to know just means they don't know and so how can we be intentional about staying engaged and not just shutting down at the first sign of offense all right okay in our last issue is the idea of personal responsibility versus social injustice and that comes up in conversation when people say well if you would just obey Authority if you would stay out of trouble if you didn't have a criminal record you may notice in the news that when some of these men have died at the hands of police officers they are then vilified because it's like the girl who files the rape charge but you need to make sure that she was promiscuous so you can nullify her rape charge and so that's what's happening so you've got people who have been victims of crimes and instead of fighting for the victim we're fighting to prove that maybe they kind of deserved it because look how they lived and look what their parenting was like and look at their criminal record and in personal responsibility is super super important but it's a separate issue from when you have when you have suffered a wrongful death and so one of the things we want to encourage you to talk about is making sure that we are promoting personal responsibility but not that it's mutually exclusive to the Justice that we should expect as citizens of the United States of America back to you I have nothing intelligent to add to that conversation it kind of goes with it I would just say sometimes this idea of social justice right that that the only way the mistreatment changes is if we take personal responsibility as Jada was saying and I think there's when you talk about social justice we can approach it from a man-centered view which says government is safe here and it's government's job to change it or we can do it from a god-centered view which says Jesus is Savior and it's the individuals job to step in and do something and so if it's going to change we all have to get engaged we can't stand on the side and expect the police or our representatives or whoever to change it but we have to step in and make a difference so we thank you for your few minutes of indulging as navigating Luke you

Channel: One Community Church

Views: 7,254

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Id: cul8PWRkZfQ

Length: 19min 21sec (1161 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 13 2016