Hansen Wendlandt, Nederland. If a church is supposed to be a light on the hill, we’d like to shine our headlights toward the deep and eternal values of justice, rather than show our taillights to controversy. 

It’s been a hard time lately. Some are making it harder. A few are reveling in making it very hard. But most of us are yearning for something better. Most of us want a better response to George Floyd’s murder, and a path toward a safer and more equitable world for people of color – because, Love. Most of us have at least some idea of white privilege and are willing to engage positively in ways to solve the evils of systematic racism (although, we white neighbors have a long way to go on this score). 

Most of us wish that all law enforcement could be as respectful and professional as our local police, and that the whole industry could have the support and accountability needed to make Black and Blue Lives Matter to all – because, Peace. Broken people break people, so we dream of healing for all. 

A few people do seem to celebrate the turmoil and enjoy their own willful ignorance. A very few are even more interested in sparking further anger and violence. This chaos, and the structures that prop it up, have no place in shaping a more perfect union. 

Most of us are not only grieving the incidents these days, but we are ashamed to see where this country has come. Thoughts and prayers got us here. Fear of difficult conversations got us here. Confusing clear moral positions with inviolable political opinions got us here. Nederland Community Presbyterian Church is disgusted at the idea that “here” can be a holy ground turned into a war zone and political prop. 

But more so, NCPC is still committed to the power of grace that comes from the heartbeat of the world. We believe there is a better way to be neighbors – because, Hope. Enacting that hope takes work, so we plan to offer some public conversations and trainings soon. We know there are marches to join, books to read, brilliant people in our lives to listen to, and causes to support with time and money. 

And for our part, wherever this community of messy faith can show up, for issues of racial justice or for any of the myriad abuses against the least of these by the worst of these – wherever there is darkness, we want to sow light. Wherever there is hatred, we want to face it with strong resistance. Wherever we can shape better hearts and a better world, let it not be simply our ideas, but the will of life and love itself. 

(Originally published in the June 11, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)