As we see, yet again, mass shootings sprinkled over the US, we see, yet again, the outpouring of grief, anger, prayer, and confusion. We experience a country that holds to a death dealing ideology that it is our god-given right to bear arms. We experience white supremacy manifested in the gunning down of our Black siblings who were just trying to get food for themselves and their families, the murders of our Asian siblings who were worshipping, the consistent patterns when white rage bears arms and knows that it will take lives.
We are exhausted, not all of us, but many of us.
Here at Unbound, we are all about prayer. We pray through our writing, our podcasts, our videos. But most of all, we pray through our actions. And it is time that our prayers are no longer just words. We must find spaces to advocate and create change. We must magnify and amplify the foundational and theological proclamation that life will overcome death. We must act as though white supremacy is a sin and do everything in our power to dismantle, destroy, and condemn systems of racism, violence, bigotry and hate.
And, you know, the church, in many ways, has lost its prophetic power. We’ve become echo chambers and ivory towers that have created a sense of safety and security so that we may speak what we truly believe is the gospel of Christ. And yet, we shy away from truly getting out in the world, in front of people’s faces. We denominationalize ourselves so much so that we begin to become more relevant to ourselves than to others. We put policy and jargon as the epitome of church life when most of the world is completely clueless of any of it because they are simply trying to survive. Our heads are in the clouds. We are like Peter at the mountain top wanting to dwell in the flashiness of the heavens.
But, siblings, it is time we break free, come down from the mountain top, unbind ourselves from barriers that hold us back from truly proclaiming to this world that GOD IS LOVE, GOD IS LIBERATION, GOD IS LIFE, GOD IS UNWAVERING IN STEADFASTNESS. It is time to get over ourselves because people are literally dying and being killed.
We should be at the marches. We should be on the stages, speaking for gun regulation, pro-choice, rights for all. We should be on every news service condemning racism and white supremacy. We should be at microphones, at protests, at community centers. And YES, we should be empowering the YOUNG FOLK who are leading the way in the fight for justice and liberation for all. WE MUST BE OUT IN THE WORLD.
When you mix holy rage with this kind of prayer, the prayer of movement and action, things can change. Things will change. And as we walk with the Spirit of God and the Spirits of our siblings taken far too soon, we will gain strength, power, and endurance to keep going…we can’t afford not to.
So may we pray with the movement of our bodies, with the strength from our faith, and with the hope given in the resurrection.
Unbound sends its deepest and most sacred prayers to the families and friends of our siblings who were murdered by gun violence and white supremacy. And we hold to our calling to speak out against injustice and continue to fight for liberation for all.
Unbound Social