Derek Chauvin Deserves to Die

Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis officer on trial for the murder of George Floyd deserves to die. The trial isn't over- I'm willing to wait it through- but the evidence is stacking up against this cop.

As with many people whose crimes are heinous, Derek may even contemplate suicide. It's a way out many take, but punishment awaits for these criminals, including those cowardly attackers who steal innocent lives in Rock Hills, Orange, Boulder, New York, Las Vegas, and way too many other places.  

There's just something even more evil when crimes are committed due to sheer prejudice or the desire to show power. Not all police act in this manner, though. I'm not ready to disband them, but it is time for a deep review of the system that doesn't weed out the wrong types of people.

Make no mistake though, what Mr. Chauvin did to George Floyd is inexcusable. It's totally evil, but it's also human. Our dire human state is one of intense selfishness and brokenness. The Bible calls it sin- and we are all corrupted by it and the choices we have made. In fact, it doesn't take more than a couple of bad choices to really get you someplace you never intended to go.

God's laws designed because of His love to protect us and protect each other. When you break them, nothing good comes from it, and pain is the result. I'd have to learn the hard way, and so do you. We all do. 

Ever spoken against doing and saying these things but chose to follow through anyway?  If so, welcome to the club called humanity, a club for broken and lost people. A club for hypocrites trying to find their way. And a club for everyone who tries get their needs met in ways that hurt others. We're all in it. 

Let's be honest- just because you know the truth doesn't mean you always choose to live it. I know I don't always choose to do what's right. And I would bet you don't either. Sometimes we are swept away by desire or power and do the wrong things. Some of us even make it a regular pattern in our life and try to justify it away. 

Truth is, in God's eyes we are all sinners and deserve death. But by God's goodness and His great Love for us, He chose to send Jesus to earth to die for the sins of all men- so that those who would choose to believe in Him, that he died and rose again, would not be destined to life in Hell forever, but would instead live with Him in Heaven for all eternity. We've got to choose to walk His way and turn around from our evil choices. Is it tough? Damn right it is! But there's no other way. God knew we couldn't pay the price on our own by being perfect, so He sent his Son because of his love- making it clear He is the only way to eternal life in Heaven. 

So, yes, Derek Chauvin deserves to die. So do you, and so do I.  Thank God, Jesus paid the price for our sins. Through Him, we can all have a fresh start- but like all of us, we still have to live with the natural consequences of our choices. What will Derek do now that his sin is exposed and his life is falling apart? You get to make the decision or not to follow Christ and walk life out following him, in spite of your sin, your life, your mistakes. I made mine. Hope and peace and a future was the result of my choice. What is your choice and what will be the result of it?

Question Everything Disney Does

The opening of the Disney theme parks is coming up quickly. Walt Disney World will soon be a hub of activity with the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening first, Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios later in the week. Fans out west at Disneyland (and I guess California Adventure) are not so fortunate. Certainly COVID-19 (the Coronavirus) has changed things! Including the moving forward of those highly debated plans for the character infused transformation of Epcot. 

The murder of George Floyd has revealed once again the racial reconciliation (and major changes) that needs to happen in our country. Disney has responded by announcing the change of Splash Mountain to an attraction based on Princess and the Frog, a noteworthy and very good, but not quite excellent, animated film. Fans on both sides of this decision are in an uproar. Some are celebrating the removal of a story they feel represents racist America at its worst, while others ask "Are animals racist?" When it comes to anything with Song of the South, seems there's no winning. As for me, as long as most of the Audio-Animatronic characters are saved and the revision is still excellent, I'll be happy. Still, there's no replacing Zip A Dee Doo Dah even if the music of the newer movie is really good.

All this points to a general lack of trust in current leadership, be it Bob Chapek, President Trump, to the World Health Organization. Everyone is suspect. And that is a good thing! We are a money and power hungry world- and our leaders often reflect those values. Therefore, we will disagree with each other when motives are suspect.

Unfortunately, it seems in our country and even around the world that it is no longer appropriate to discuss an issue. Instead the order of the day is to yell, scream, and slander, shouting names and labeling people instead of having civil discussion. Once credible news sources have now given way to inflaming disruption versus helping people to think logically. Why? Because it fuels clicks and viewers. Certainly our current and previous  president fall into this trap of creating further division. And we the people are all the worse because of it!

Are you getting tired of people telling you what to think? Wouldn't you prefer to be given the facts and instead taught how to think? Two very different things! The only real trustworthy source is God himself... and He is not Black or White. Nor is He Red or Blue. Check this out. These words inspired by God Himself were written over two thousand years ago, but they are just as fresh and just as needed today:

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5)

---

All these words from the great apostle Paul in the New Testament of the Bible remind us to keep our focus on a God that never changes. One whose motives towards us are always for our good. A God whose holy standards are for our benefit and for the benefit of others. In Him alone, we can place our trust. 

The world is shifting proving itself to be falling apart. Will we respond in fear or faith? Will we represent Him or our political beliefs? Will we show loyalty to our color or to the God who created each of us in multiple shades of beautiful? The choice is yours to make. Question everything- especially what's in your own heart.

(Concept art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

CNN: All Four Officers Charged

It will be very interesting to see how the murder of George Floyd is handled. How will the press handle it all? I'm hoping both the liberal and the conversation press are fair and honest, but as we know, that is not always the case. CNN's story is here. 

A Black Anglican Priest Speaks Out

Esau McCaulley, a Black Anglican Priest and author of the upcoming book "Reading While Black", speaks about racism in America but more importantly, the impact that God's Holy Spirit can have in changing people and drawing them together. His short article for Christianity Today is so powerful, it needs to be shared.
Here's an excerpt:
---------

"This weekend, churches around the globe gathered virtually to celebrate Pentecost, that miraculous moment when tongues of fire descended on the followers of Christ and the gospel was heard in the varied languages of the world. Pentecost is the miracle that follows another miracle (the Ascension), which occurs in the aftermath of a wonder (the Resurrection).

In contrast to Christ’s disciples, we experienced Pentecost this year in the aftermath of a woe, following a trauma, in the context of a tragedy. The protests and riots of Minneapolis (and so many other cities) follow the death of George Floyd, who was choked to death while handcuffed and pleading for his life. For nine minutes, a police officer kept his knee on Floyd’s neck while the man called for his mother. This occurred in the wake of the killings of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. And all this takes place within the wider context of a global pandemic that has killed 100,000 people. It feels more like we are in the middle of an extended Lent rather than the end of Eastertide.

Some will assume that I’m bringing politics into the church. They’ll wonder why I’m not upset about black-on-black crime, or the breakdown of the black family, or abortion, or looting, or whatever topic that helps us avoid looking at the thing itself. That “thing” is the 400-year history of racial trauma and oppression still plaguing blacks in this country.

What do protests, riots, and police brutality have to do with Pentecost and the passage in Acts 2:1–21? Does the death of the Messiah for our sins have anything to do with how we approach the flames of Minneapolis? Does the church have something to say, or will we be discipled by Fox News on the one hand and MSNBC on the other? As our country is divided, what do the words of Scripture mean right now?

There is no other world in which to talk about Jesus than a world in which black men can have their necks stepped on for nine minutes. That is to say: The only way to answer these questions is to look at the words of Scripture with the burning cities as our interpretive backdrop.

Here’s what God’s Word tells us.

First, the gospel brings us together.

Acts 2:1–21 opens with the followers of Jesus gathered in one place. It is amazing to think that at one point in history, all the Christians in the world could fit into one room. Despite what the history books will tell you, Christianity is not some state-sponsored religion of terror created by Constantine to keep the populous in check. It began humbly with a ragtag group of 120 mostly regular folks who had encountered the living God.

Among them were women like Mary, the mother of Jesus, who came from rural peasant stock, and people like Matthew, the former tax collector. The two of them could not be more different. Matthew collaborated with the oppressors of Israel and extorted money from people to line his pockets. Folks like Mary were the victims of such atrocities.

What kind of church has room for both the oppressed and former oppressors? The Christian church. What united that early church? Their shared convictions about Jesus.

What unites us as a church now? What would this unity look like today for the family of George Floyd? What would it mean for us to be together with them? What would it mean to be alongside the black community in the United States, which over the years has experienced kidnapping, slavery, the injustice of the Jim Crow era, and the litany of contemporary sufferings that mark our lives now?

It would mean that, as an act of love, the church says, “It should not have to be this way, and I will spend my life beside yours testifying to the values that the Christian tradition places on your black life.”

The church has the power to make this statement because the same Spirit falls upon everyone in the room. There is not one Holy Spirit that enables women to declare the word of God and another for men. There is not one Spirit that gives words to the rich and others to the poor. There is not one Holy Spirit that allows us to speak to African peoples and another that allows us to speak to Asians or Europeans. The one Spirit sends the one gospel to varied peoples of the earth.

The gospel’s work through the Spirit arises from our common status as image bearers. We are all fallen and in need of God’s grace. Any ideology that functionally or verbally denies that common status is a heresy. And anyone who can’t see that the heresy of racial bias infects some Christians in this land does so in the face of overwhelming facts.

Second, the gospel moves us out...

We the American church have a message for a country and a world on fire: There is a God who loves you and died that you might know him. This love is sufficient to gather the divided peoples of the world, even when all the politicians and philosophers fail. There is a God of justice who sees and acts on behalf of the beleaguered peoples of the world, people like George Floyd. There is a king and kingdom. And he has given us his Spirit to make him known to the ends of the earth."

The full article is here.

Esau McCaulley is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America, an assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, and the author of the forthcoming book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope (IVP Academic).

This piece was adapted from a sermon preached at Anglican Church of the Redeemer in Greensboro, North Carolina on May 31.

(From Christianity Today.)

Racism is a Sin Issue.

Racism is part of the broken nature of man. Any man. Pure and simple. This has to stop. No one is above the law.