White Supremacy and a Total Eclipse

The Great American Eclipse is coming. I hope a Great American Spiritual Awakening is just behind it.

An eclipse is defined as: “an obscuring of the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observer or between it and its source of illumination”. Or as an action “…obscure the light from or to…” When the source of light cannot be seen by the observer because something blocked that light, we call it an eclipse.

When a similar phenomenon takes place in the human heart we might call it sin. Hatred, pride, bigotry, selfishness, and viciousness all block out the light we are clearly given. It’s a slow process as light dims gradually and we get used to living in the dark. Its conception may be handed down through the racist generations and slowly permeating into the soul of the unaware child. Or maybe it starts on the playground where some are allowed in the game and others are not. Maybe the neighborhood you dwelled in most of your life contained humans who looked like you and talked like you and went to the same kinds of churches you did. Wherever it was rooted, thus started the gradual obstruction.

I lamented when I heard about the recent events in Charlottesville, VA. How in the world, in a “let freedom ring” country have we gotten to a place of such hatred and disregard for our fellow citizens?  Maybe it’s been that way all along but our news sources are bringing these issues into the light more than ever. And make no mistake. The hatred is across the board and plainly seen by video footage from many a cell phone. And as we view these disturbing images we can easily become numb to the spirit behind them as we either make excuses for such heinous behavior or resolve even more to lump our hated foes into one sick category. We either dismiss it or become enraged by it.

But, I believe, there is a better option here. Could we…would we… be willing to step into the Light? Could we take the blinders off our eyes and view things from a heavenly perspective? Maybe we would find a Love that would remedy our hate disease. Somehow this “Alt-white” group might find that deep inside they are throwing childhood pain onto those who they consider different from themselves. Emotional issues have their roots…and their remedy…in spiritual solutions. Our hearts are incapable of change unless our minds and our spirits are profoundly impacted and healed by the Perfect Love found in our Savior. I understand this is not a popular stance or belief and I have gotten many a scornful reaction to my faith. But honestly, how far can you go to heal a warped thought life that leads to hatred and racism without a spiritual awakening? When a Love beyond our wildest dreams collides with our bent on the destruction of others, we must stand up and take notice. We can dismiss that Love as a crutch, insult the conduit of that Love, intellectualize this Love away, or we can embrace it as the one thing that equalizes us all. The Love of God as expressed in the sacrifice of Jesus gives us the ultimate confidence our insecure and suspicious selves need. And with that Love comes freedom…the freedom that overflows in the form of love for others. After all, the two greatest commands Jesus gave His followers were these: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” I don’t mean to simplify a deeply complex issue, but there’s the fix right there! Can you imagine if we took this “command” seriously??

In the meantime, I pray that this spirit of divisiveness and pure ugly will lose its power…its grip on all who call The United States their home. And I pray for myself. If there lies hidden in me any vestige of prejudice that is blocking the pure Light of the gospel from my field of vision that God would remove it. After all, He is going to remove all of it one day when there will be no dividing line between people groups. All will finally see that we are, in fact, all one in Him.

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9a