The Charleston Shooting - A Disturbing Undercurrent

First and foremost, we who claim Jesus as Savior and Lord must stand in solidarity with the people of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC.  Wherever the Body of Christ is in pain and grieving, the whole body of Christ is hurting.

There are so many questions an event like this raises, both from within the Body and from those observing the Body.  Is there ever going to be an end to the cancer that is racism in our land?  Are we a culture disproportionately prone to firearm violence, or is this about personal choices and behavior, apart from methods and weapons?   Are people born evil, or is venomous hatred something taught or learned?  Is a horrid occurrence like this a part of some detailed matrix of determined events, or does God really step back and allow such horrific decisions?  How do lonely and pained persons on the margins of society's attention gravitate to groups fueled by hate, and who all are responsible for that gravitation?   Should churches now become as secure as schools and government buildings, and how far should security measures go?  (Tomorrow morning I will give my last message at a church that has an awesome in-church safety team.  They approach it as a ministry, and I'm grateful for that.)   And how do family and friends of nine innocent victims find the capability to pray for and seek forgiveness for someone who ended a loved one's life?

I don't pretend to be any kind of an expert on the inquiries above, except possibly the last one.  However, there's an additional issue related to the shooting on which I'm compelled to offer comment.  It's a subtle and indirection matter, and it seems to be oozing within the ranks of Jesus-followers.  On social media and in other conversations I hear intimations that this tragic event is the reason that churches should be wary of strangers.  The hint is that this is the problem with churches that focus more on the needs of new people than they do on the needs of those already in the "fold."  It's the reason everyone in the church needs to know everyone else, some say.  The Emanuel A.M.E. shooting shows why we should look warily at "those people" who are "not like everyone else" in our churches.

I don't have enough ways to say an emphatic "NO!" to this response to the Charleston shooting.  Those who gathered last Wednesday night at Emanuel's facility welcomed Dylann Roof because that's what followers of Jesus do.  The radical hospitality (thank you, Bishop Robert Schnase) of Christ's love is our trademark.  Jesus welcomed the least, the last, and the lost; "those people" who spend their lives as the objects of suspicion.  He did that at great risk; a risk that eventually got him pinned to a cross.

Hospitality is a risk.  Claiming Jesus is a risk.  In many places throughout the globe just gathering to worship Jesus is a risk.  Why would we think anything else?!?  To the best of our knowledge all of the first group of apostles except one paid for following Jesus with their lives.  The movement has largely grown most powerfully throughout history as it is watered by the blood of martyrs.  John Wesley was thrown of the churches of his own denomination because of his passion for reaching the "lower class" of England for Jesus.   We simply must abandon this pointless North American myth that Church is all about safety and security for those who are already in.  It is, always has been, and always will be about stepping out in faith, way beyond our boundaries of comfort, trusting in God alone (no matter the outcome), on the chance of bringing one more person into the arms of God.

If I was a betting man, which I'm not (subject for another post), I'd bet my last dollar that a Bible study, a time of worship, a season of prayer, or something will happen at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston this Wednesday night.  And I'll bet if a stranger shows up, that stranger will be welcomed. Because they're followers of Jesus.  It's a risk worth taking.  It's what we do.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.