-
00:00:02
– We know that
perspective matters.
-
00:00:04
See what we see often
depends a lot on where we stand,
-
00:00:07
but there's actually
another factor
-
00:00:09
that doesn't get talked
about nearly as much,
-
00:00:12
it's motivation, desire, like
what we want to see happen.
-
00:00:15
– And that matters
a lot, especially
-
00:00:17
for the topic that we're going
-
00:00:18
to talk about today,
which is justice.
-
00:00:20
At Crossroads, we
want to see justice, love,
-
00:00:23
and mercy, happiness,
Kyle has his shirt on
-
00:00:26
for the third week in a row.
-
00:00:27
– I did. I did wash it.
– Very important.
-
00:00:29
– I did finally wash it.
-
00:00:30
– The Bible tells us just
that in Micah 6:8, it says:
-
00:00:40
– You know, all of us
want justice in our lives.
-
00:00:43
But what does justice
actually look like?
-
00:00:46
Like how do we decide
that an outcome really is just?
-
00:00:48
– And the headlines this week,
-
00:00:50
we're asking ourselves
that question more and more.
-
00:00:52
And that's a question
that no matter
-
00:00:54
where you stand on the
line, you want to know.
-
00:00:56
And it's complicated.
-
00:00:57
There are mixed emotions around
-
00:00:58
what's happening right now,
-
00:01:00
what's happening with
justice, can be served?
-
00:01:02
Is it served? What
does it even mean?
-
00:01:04
– Exactly, and it's
actually exactly
-
00:01:06
what Chuck's going
to talk about today,
-
00:01:08
how our view of justice
-
00:01:10
might be quite a bit
different than God's.
-
00:01:15
– Hey, welcome to week
three of What Color is God?
-
00:01:18
Today we're going to
get into a thorny subject:
-
00:01:20
doing justice.
-
00:01:22
And remember, I'm
the pastor you like,
-
00:01:24
so let's hang in
there together today.
-
00:01:27
But it's hard, it is
hard to make sense
-
00:01:29
of all the crazy things
that are happening
-
00:01:31
in our world today.
-
00:01:32
Is there bias in our society?
-
00:01:35
Is there bias in my own heart?
-
00:01:37
All of these questions
can get thorny
-
00:01:39
and can get challenging,
-
00:01:41
but God has an answer for them.
-
00:01:43
And in this series, we're
trying to unpack those answers.
-
00:01:45
So the first week of this
series, Brian laid out the what.
-
00:01:47
Last week I talked
about the how.
-
00:01:49
And today we're going
to talk about doing justice.
-
00:01:52
Now last week, I
invited you to join us
-
00:01:54
for a reading experience
through the Book of Micah.
-
00:01:56
I hope you did your
homework. If you didn't,
-
00:01:58
I guess since you're
watching the video,
-
00:02:00
you could pause and do it now.
-
00:02:01
But either way,
-
00:02:02
I hope you did get a chance
to take that in.
-
00:02:04
And the verse that we're
really looking at today
-
00:02:06
is Micah 6:8, which says this:
-
00:02:18
Now, we've got to
understand how do we
-
00:02:20
apply that verse
to our time today,
-
00:02:22
because those words were written
-
00:02:23
thousands of years ago.
-
00:02:24
And that's what we're
going to look at today
-
00:02:26
by breaking it down
into its three parts.
-
00:02:28
We're going to talk about
what does it mean to do justice?
-
00:02:30
What about this idea
of loving kindness,
-
00:02:32
or some say love mercy?
-
00:02:34
And how do we walk
humbly with God?
-
00:02:37
Now, maybe one
place we can start
-
00:02:39
in terms of agreement is I think
-
00:02:40
we can all agree
racism is unjust.
-
00:02:44
And yet maybe
you don't know that
-
00:02:46
some sociologists would
say there are levels to racism.
-
00:02:50
Racism shows up at a basic level
-
00:02:51
in terms of internalized racism.
-
00:02:54
So whether that is
the internal thoughts
-
00:02:55
and biases and
prejudices that we have,
-
00:02:57
and all of us have them,
-
00:02:58
for people who
look different than us
-
00:03:00
or from different
racial or ethnic groups,
-
00:03:02
or maybe it's the ways in which
-
00:03:03
the racism we
experience externally
-
00:03:06
impacts how we view ourselves.
-
00:03:07
That could be part
of internalized racism,
-
00:03:09
but that's kind of a base level.
-
00:03:11
And above that is
interpersonal racism.
-
00:03:13
And again, this
is the stuff that
-
00:03:15
we probably would
agree to as well.
-
00:03:16
Like, hey, the words we
shouldn't say to each other,
-
00:03:18
the words we shouldn't
call each other.
-
00:03:20
Those kinds of things are
at an interpersonal level.
-
00:03:22
It's one person discriminating
against another person.
-
00:03:25
And yet the sociologist
would say there's
-
00:03:27
a level in which racism
can be institutional.
-
00:03:30
And when I think institution,
I think about a building.
-
00:03:32
So it's like, hey,
is there racism
-
00:03:34
playing out in the building
that's called the school
-
00:03:36
or education or
is it playing out
-
00:03:38
in the building
that's called the jail
-
00:03:39
or the criminal justice system?
-
00:03:41
Is it playing out
in the building
-
00:03:42
that is the hospital or
the health care system?
-
00:03:44
Those are ways that
institutional racism
-
00:03:46
could play out.
-
00:03:47
And then finally,
there's this idea
-
00:03:48
of structural racism,
that there's a collection
-
00:03:51
of institutions that together
could have practices
-
00:03:53
that are, again,
happening because
-
00:03:55
of internalized and
interpersonal and institutional
-
00:03:57
that are affecting
society as a whole.
-
00:04:00
One example for
this is, honestly,
-
00:04:02
what voting look like in our
country before 1964 and 1965
-
00:04:05
where there was a
structural racism applied
-
00:04:09
to our voting system
where if you were black,
-
00:04:11
African-American,
a person of color,
-
00:04:12
you didn't have
the right to vote
-
00:04:14
or you had to jump
through all of these
-
00:04:16
unjust, injust hoops to vote
and have your vote count.
-
00:04:19
So we see this in different
systems and structures.
-
00:04:22
Now, let me just say this.
-
00:04:23
I'm not assuming
that you believe
-
00:04:26
that there is a such thing
-
00:04:27
as institutional or
structural racism.
-
00:04:29
However, I do want
to propose today that
-
00:04:32
the Bible actually has
something to say about that.
-
00:04:35
So that's what we're going
to dig into a bit in our time.
-
00:04:38
But I also want you to know
-
00:04:39
why I'm talking
about those things,
-
00:04:41
because as a church, we
have committed ourselves
-
00:04:44
to addressing
structural injustices
-
00:04:46
in a variety of different ways.
-
00:04:48
I mean, let me give
you some examples.
-
00:04:49
We didn't just say we think
people shouldn't be in poverty
-
00:04:52
and therefore we
should love our neighbor.
-
00:04:53
This is maybe if you
have a challenge,
-
00:04:55
you might be like,
"I don't want to hear
-
00:04:57
about all this
big picture stuff.
-
00:04:58
I just want to love my neighbor.
-
00:04:59
If I love my neighbor, it'll
all work out in the wash."
-
00:05:01
And I just want to say
maybe, but maybe not.
-
00:05:04
And so when it came
to CityLink Center,
-
00:05:05
we believed as a church
we need to do something
-
00:05:08
to create a structure
by which people
-
00:05:10
can experience a freedom
from poverty into thriving.
-
00:05:14
We start at 6 after
care homes in India
-
00:05:17
because we didn't want to
just see a neighbor loved,
-
00:05:20
one girl rescued
out of sex slavery.
-
00:05:22
We want to end the practice.
-
00:05:24
So not only do we do that,
-
00:05:25
but we encourage and support.
-
00:05:27
What is it looked like
for people to get busted
-
00:05:29
when they're pimps that
are having young girls
-
00:05:31
kidnaped and raped for profit?
-
00:05:33
We just announced
our 25th anniversary
-
00:05:34
that we're partnering with
the Restavek Freedom Foundation,
-
00:05:37
a foundation that is
committed to ending
-
00:05:39
the practice of modern
day slavery in Haiti,
-
00:05:41
in a country where
most of those people
-
00:05:43
have the same race,
but there's a difference
-
00:05:45
in status and there
are children in slavery.
-
00:05:48
And so as a church, and I
love this about our church,
-
00:05:51
we are a church that wants
to end systemic injustices
-
00:05:54
in a bunch of different areas.
-
00:05:55
I love that about
us. I'm proud of that.
-
00:05:57
And I believe God calls
the church to be that way.
-
00:06:01
And so if you read
in Micah last week,
-
00:06:03
you saw that, you
saw this through line
-
00:06:05
of God challenging
the nation of Israel
-
00:06:08
at a national level
because of injustice.
-
00:06:12
One of the places that
shows up is in Micah 3:9-11,
-
00:06:16
where the prophet says this:
-
00:06:17
Hear this, you heads
of the house of Jacob
-
00:06:20
and rulers of the
house of Israel.
-
00:06:21
Again, he's talking to
the national leadership
-
00:06:23
when he says:
Heads of the House of Jacob
-
00:06:25
and rulers of the
House of Israel
-
00:06:27
who detest justice and make
crooked all that is straight,
-
00:06:31
who built Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
-
00:06:34
Its heads give
judgment for a bribe,
-
00:06:36
meaning the political
leaders are taking bribes.
-
00:06:39
Its priests teach for a price;
-
00:06:41
its prophets practiced
divination for money,
-
00:06:42
meaning its pastoral
leaders are actually
-
00:06:45
on the take and doing things
-
00:06:46
that aren't necessarily
God's voice.
-
00:06:48
But they're doing it to
manipulate the people.
-
00:06:50
Yet they lean on
the Lord and say,
-
00:06:52
"Is not the Lord
in the midst of us?
-
00:06:54
No disaster shall come upon us."
-
00:06:56
And so when you read
through the Book of Micah,
-
00:06:58
and so much of
the Old Testament,
-
00:06:59
what you find is this: The Bible
-
00:07:01
does not separate
personal righteousness
-
00:07:04
from public righteousness.
-
00:07:06
And God calls His church to be
-
00:07:08
a group of people
who pursue both,
-
00:07:10
that we should come against
-
00:07:12
the personal
injustices that we see
-
00:07:14
or that we participate in.
-
00:07:16
And we should also come against
-
00:07:17
the public injustices
that we see around us.
-
00:07:21
You know, the word
"justice" in the Old Testament
-
00:07:23
is the word "mispat" in Hebrew.
-
00:07:26
It's a word that
shows a 418 times
-
00:07:28
in the Old Testament
-
00:07:29
and it's applied to
the widow, to the poor,
-
00:07:33
to those who are
immigrants, to the foreigner,
-
00:07:35
to those who are the fatherless.
-
00:07:37
It's applied multiple
times to the people of God.
-
00:07:40
And we're called to do justice,
-
00:07:41
to seek justice
or to keep justice.
-
00:07:44
And God himself even defines
Himself with these terms.
-
00:07:48
Psalm 89:14 says:
justice and righteousness
-
00:07:51
flow from the throne of God.
-
00:07:53
God says this is a
character trait of who I am.
-
00:07:55
And this is shows up in a
bunch of different scriptures.
-
00:07:58
In fact, there's a slide there,
-
00:07:59
if you want to just do
some more digging.
-
00:08:01
Just take a note of that
-
00:08:02
and read those scriptures
when you have a chance.
-
00:08:04
But let me also say this.
-
00:08:05
Jesus himself
supports this same view
-
00:08:08
of justice in the New Testament,
-
00:08:10
specifically in the Gospels.
-
00:08:12
Matthew 23:23 is Jesus
having an encounter,
-
00:08:15
really having a
corrective encounter
-
00:08:18
with those who are
leaders of the day.
-
00:08:20
And again, these are
the political and civic
-
00:08:22
and religious
leaders of the day.
-
00:08:24
And Jesus says this to
them in Matthew 23, he says:
-
00:08:38
Do you hear the echo
to Micah 6:8 there?
-
00:08:45
So even Jesus is saying
there is a place for us
-
00:08:48
to very much care about
our private righteousness.
-
00:08:53
And there's also a
place for us to hear
-
00:08:55
God's call for us to care about
-
00:08:57
public righteousness
and public justice as well.
-
00:08:59
So God uses intense
language when
-
00:09:01
He's talking about injustice
-
00:09:02
because he cares
about it deeply.
-
00:09:04
And having said that, we're
not experts at Crossroads.
-
00:09:06
We're trying to wrestle through
-
00:09:07
what does this mean for us
as a church to live this out?
-
00:09:11
And so we want to lean
into people who are experts.
-
00:09:14
And so that's why I
love that Brian Tome,
-
00:09:16
our senior pastor, got a
chance to go to Alabama
-
00:09:19
and spend some time with
a guy who is living this out,
-
00:09:21
who is an expert.
-
00:09:22
His name is Bryan Stevenson.
-
00:09:24
You may have heard
of him, but this interview
-
00:09:26
that Brian and him do
together is so powerful
-
00:09:29
we couldn't not
share it with you.
-
00:09:31
So we're going be
sharing pieces of it
-
00:09:33
all throughout
our time right now.
-
00:09:34
Let's start with the first part.
-
00:09:37
– You know, at
Crossroads we talk about
-
00:09:39
changing the world,
and it's very rarely
-
00:09:41
that I actually get
to be with somebody
-
00:09:43
who right now is
changing the world
-
00:09:45
in ways that are being
understood by the masses.
-
00:09:50
It's an honor to be here
in Montgomery, Alabama,
-
00:09:53
with, I'd like to
say a new friend,
-
00:09:56
but I couldn't say it
just in 10 minutes.
-
00:09:58
But Bryan Stevenson.
– Thank you.
-
00:10:01
– This is really,
really, really an honor.
-
00:10:05
Most of us or many of us
may not know you or your story.
-
00:10:07
Just tell us about who
you are. What's your story?
-
00:10:09
– Sure.
-
00:10:10
My name is Bryan
Stevenson. I'm a lawyer.
-
00:10:13
And over the last 35
years, I've represented
-
00:10:16
the poor, the accused, the
condemned on death row.
-
00:10:20
I fought for children
prosecuted as adults,
-
00:10:22
the wrongly convicted,
the unfairly sentenced.
-
00:10:25
And I believe that
there's a justice deficit
-
00:10:29
in our communities
and our nation.
-
00:10:31
And so we've been
trying to correct that.
-
00:10:33
And I come from a faith
perspective that believes
-
00:10:38
that we are
required to do justice.
-
00:10:40
And that's more than
something you say,
-
00:10:42
it's something that
you actually do.
-
00:10:44
I think when the prophet
Micah said do justice,
-
00:10:46
he meant that we
should be actively trying
-
00:10:48
to increase justice
where we see injustice,
-
00:10:51
eradicate inequality.
-
00:10:53
I believe in loving mercy,
-
00:10:58
and that means
being compassionate
-
00:11:00
and looking beyond the
challenges that we see.
-
00:11:02
And then I believe,
as the prophet says,
-
00:11:05
that we should walk
humbly with God.
-
00:11:07
And that has shaped my journey.
-
00:11:09
That has brought me here
to Montgomery, Alabama,
-
00:11:11
where for the last 30 years
-
00:11:13
the Equal Justice Initiative
-
00:11:14
has been trying to provide
services to the poor.
-
00:11:17
And we've been creating
spaces to help the nation
-
00:11:19
begin to reckon with the
history of racial inequality.
-
00:11:21
– This is all
great. It's all great.
-
00:11:23
Fantastic, Bryan, but come on,
-
00:11:25
you're not saying the
most important stuff,
-
00:11:28
that you actually look
like Michael B. Jordan.
-
00:11:31
I mean, come on,
are you serious?
-
00:11:33
How does it feel that
Michael B. Jordan
-
00:11:35
looks like you
and they chose him
-
00:11:37
to be you in a movie
called Just Mercy?
-
00:11:41
– Well, you know, they
didn't straight up say
-
00:11:43
because he looks like you
-
00:11:45
we're going to
get him to be you.
-
00:11:47
What's funny was when he came,
-
00:11:49
we spent a lot of time together
-
00:11:50
and he was so committed
-
00:11:51
to getting everything
exactly right.
-
00:11:53
He wanted to be as
authentic as possible.
-
00:11:55
And he would say, "Well,
how do you move in court
-
00:11:57
and how do you do this?"
-
00:11:59
And he would watch me
and all these kind of things.
-
00:12:01
And and he was just so committed
-
00:12:03
to being authentic
and getting it right.
-
00:12:05
And there was a moment
when I did have to tell him,
-
00:12:07
"I want you to be authentic.
-
00:12:09
I want you to get it right.
-
00:12:10
But when it comes
to, like, the physique,
-
00:12:13
you can keep the Black
Panther body when you play me.
-
00:12:16
I don't need you to
get that exactly right."
-
00:12:19
I was really honored to
have him play me in the film,
-
00:12:21
and I thought he
did a brilliant job,
-
00:12:23
as did the whole cast.
-
00:12:24
And it's been great
to see the story
-
00:12:26
of some of my work
presented in that format.
-
00:12:29
– I'm white. I don't know,
-
00:12:31
maybe one of the
people doesn't see color,
-
00:12:33
but I am white.
-
00:12:34
And a lot of white people,
-
00:12:36
when they hear
calls for justice,
-
00:12:39
it sounds like just let
people get off with things.
-
00:12:45
I don't think you believe that.
-
00:12:47
What -- so what-- How does
those things all fit together?
-
00:12:50
– You know, I think
we have this sense that
-
00:12:54
when you do wrong, you
should be held accountable.
-
00:12:56
And when you do right,
-
00:12:58
there should be some
affirmation of that.
-
00:13:00
I mean, at its core, that's
what we're trying to get to.
-
00:13:03
We have people
that make mistakes.
-
00:13:04
We have people that fall down.
-
00:13:07
But if we react too harshly,
then it becomes unjust.
-
00:13:11
In the 1970s, we
said that people
-
00:13:13
who are dealing
with drug addiction
-
00:13:16
and drug dependency
are criminals.
-
00:13:17
And that's the moment
when we declared
-
00:13:19
this misguided war on
drugs and we started
-
00:13:21
putting hundreds of
thousands of people in jails
-
00:13:23
and prisons because of
addiction and dependency.
-
00:13:27
I don't think that
was fair because
-
00:13:29
I believe addiction and
dependency is a health problem
-
00:13:33
and we need a
health care response.
-
00:13:34
We've gotten
acculturated in America
-
00:13:37
so that when someone
says, "I'm an alcoholic,"
-
00:13:40
we don't think that
they should be in prison.
-
00:13:43
If we see them going to a bar,
-
00:13:44
we don't call the police.
-
00:13:46
We worry about them.
-
00:13:47
But we understand
the nature of that.
-
00:13:49
And what's happened
when you live in a society
-
00:13:52
that gets governed
by fear and anger,
-
00:13:55
you start tolerating
things and accepting things
-
00:13:57
that you know are unfair:
-
00:13:59
putting children
in adult prison.
-
00:14:01
So we have thirteen
states with no minimum age
-
00:14:04
for trying a child as an adult.
-
00:14:05
So I sometimes
represent nine year old kids
-
00:14:08
who are facing 50 and
60 year prison sentences
-
00:14:11
in adult prisons.
-
00:14:12
I've held thirteen
year old children
-
00:14:14
who've been
placed in adult jails
-
00:14:16
where they were beaten
-
00:14:17
and sexually assaulted
and tormented.
-
00:14:20
And I know that most people,
-
00:14:22
everybody who could
be in that space with me
-
00:14:25
would see the
unfairness of that.
-
00:14:27
The justice question comes when
-
00:14:30
the question is posed:
do we do about that?
-
00:14:32
Do we separate ourselves?
Do we isolate ourselves?
-
00:14:34
Do we look away?
-
00:14:36
Or are we compelled
to do something?
-
00:14:39
And that's why, for
me, there is an urgency
-
00:14:43
in this country to do something
-
00:14:46
about the over incarceration
-
00:14:48
that has condemned so many.
-
00:14:49
We've got 70 million Americans
-
00:14:50
with criminal arrest
histories, which means
-
00:14:52
that when they try to get jobs
-
00:14:54
or try to get loans,
they're disfavored.
-
00:14:55
We've got nearly
five million people
-
00:14:57
on probation or parole.
-
00:14:58
The United States
has the highest rate
-
00:15:00
of incarceration in the world.
-
00:15:02
And we don't seem
to be bothered by that.
-
00:15:04
And so the justice
part is making sure that
-
00:15:09
we are actually
reflecting our basic values.
-
00:15:12
We don't put crimes
in jails and prisons.
-
00:15:14
You can't put a
crime in jail or prison.
-
00:15:17
You put a person
in jail or prison.
-
00:15:19
And if you believe,
as I believe,
-
00:15:20
that people are not
crimes, then you have to
-
00:15:23
kind of give a little
more thought to
-
00:15:25
how we think about what's
an acceptable punishment,
-
00:15:28
what's a just punishment.
-
00:15:30
And mercy for me is
the important part of it,
-
00:15:33
because mercy is what
we give, what we show
-
00:15:37
to others who don't deserve it.
-
00:15:38
Mercy is not for the deserving,
-
00:15:41
it's for the undeserving.
-
00:15:42
It's the way we
reinforce what it means
-
00:15:45
to be persuaded
that there's grace,
-
00:15:48
that there's compassion,
-
00:15:50
that love has a power
to restore and redeem.
-
00:15:53
And I just think
in too many places
-
00:15:56
we've moved away from that.
-
00:15:58
We've allowed fear
and anger to cause us
-
00:16:00
to believe things
that are ultimately
-
00:16:02
leading to oppression
and unfairness,
-
00:16:05
excess and abuse.
-
00:16:07
And I see a lot of that
in the spaces where I go.
-
00:16:10
– So help us, what is justice?
-
00:16:12
Because it does seem like
when we talk about justice,
-
00:16:15
first of all, we talk about
mercy based on how we feel,
-
00:16:17
we're just letting
somebody off? What is it?
-
00:16:19
– No, I think what we're
inviting people to do
-
00:16:22
is to actually acknowledge
the wrong they've done
-
00:16:25
with an understanding that
through acknowledgment
-
00:16:28
there are these
possibilities that open up
-
00:16:31
for restoration, redemption.
-
00:16:33
And I actually do believe that
-
00:16:37
when we begin to
accept responsibility,
-
00:16:39
we actually begin to
recognize why what we've done
-
00:16:42
isn't something we
should continue to do.
-
00:16:44
If we don't accept
responsibility,
-
00:16:45
then you have to
worry that people
-
00:16:46
are going to continue
to do the things
-
00:16:48
they shouldn't do
over and over again.
-
00:16:50
And we ought to be
inviting people to say,
-
00:16:53
"I plead guilty."
-
00:16:54
But when you create a
system that will crush you.
-
00:16:57
If you were told pleading guilty
-
00:16:59
means you'll never drive again,
-
00:17:00
if you were told that
you were going to go
-
00:17:02
to prison for the rest of
your life if you plead guilty,
-
00:17:04
you actually undermine
the healthier instinct
-
00:17:08
which we're trying to cultivate,
-
00:17:09
which is to have people
accept responsibility,
-
00:17:13
to embrace the wrongfulness
of what they've done
-
00:17:15
so that they can
get to a better place.
-
00:17:17
And an unjust system
makes that harder
-
00:17:21
rather than making that easier.
-
00:17:25
So Bryan Stephenson
talks about this justice deficit
-
00:17:28
and that as followers of Jesus
-
00:17:29
we're called to
increase justice.
-
00:17:32
Now, you might be challenged
-
00:17:33
by some of what you heard,
-
00:17:35
but don't miss the message
that there is something
-
00:17:38
for us as followers of
Jesus when it comes to this.
-
00:17:40
And we have to
understand our context.
-
00:17:43
One of the things
we're doing in this series
-
00:17:45
is reckoning with our reality.
-
00:17:47
And part of the reality
of the American story
-
00:17:49
is that we have grown
up, been raised up
-
00:17:52
in a country that has in
its historical backdrop,
-
00:17:55
a context of injustice that was,
-
00:17:57
in fact, along racial lines.
-
00:18:00
That if you are black,
indigenous, or person of color,
-
00:18:02
the likelihood that you have
been discriminated against
-
00:18:05
or someone in your family's
been discriminated against
-
00:18:07
based on race is
significantly higher
-
00:18:10
than if you are white or
Caucasian in our country.
-
00:18:14
And actually,
often times we say,
-
00:18:16
"Well, it's usually more a
socioeconomic issue as well."
-
00:18:20
And I don't deny that
those are mostly connected
-
00:18:23
and often intricately connected,
-
00:18:25
but not always connected.
-
00:18:26
And so Bryan
Stevenson shared a story
-
00:18:28
that kind of demonstrates
even if you are not poor,
-
00:18:33
in a professional class,
but a person of color,
-
00:18:36
you can still find
yourself being
-
00:18:38
discriminated
against based on race.
-
00:18:41
You can find yourself
confronting injustice.
-
00:18:43
He tells a powerful
story to that end.
-
00:18:45
Let's watch it now.
-
00:18:47
– Part of justice has
to be this situation
-
00:18:51
and this situation, if
they're apples to apples,
-
00:18:54
they both should have
the same sentence.
-
00:18:57
That's not happening
in our country.
-
00:18:58
Just go ahead and go down
the examples or laundry list
-
00:19:01
of how injustice is
happening in our country.
-
00:19:03
– Well, I mean, the
disparities are really profound.
-
00:19:07
One in three black male
babies born in this country
-
00:19:09
is expected to
go to jail or prison
-
00:19:10
sometime during his lifetime,
-
00:19:11
according to the
Bureau of Justice.
-
00:19:13
That's not because
the rate of offending
-
00:19:15
are that much greater.
-
00:19:17
But I believe there's
a presumption
-
00:19:18
of dangerousness and guilt
-
00:19:20
that we assign
to certain people.
-
00:19:22
And that presumption
then makes it really easy
-
00:19:25
for people to be
wrongly convicted,
-
00:19:27
wrongly accused,
unfairly sentenced.
-
00:19:29
If you're a black
person, black man,
-
00:19:31
you're six times more
likely to go to prison
-
00:19:33
for the same crime
committed by a white person.
-
00:19:36
– The same crime, same
apples to apples, six more.
-
00:19:39
– The death penalty has
dramatic evidence of this.
-
00:19:41
You're 22 times more likely
to get sentenced to death
-
00:19:44
if you're a black defendant
-
00:19:45
convicted of killing
a white person,
-
00:19:47
race of the victim is
the greatest predictor
-
00:19:49
of who ends up on death row.
-
00:19:51
And these presumptions
manifest themselves
-
00:19:53
in all kinds of ways.
-
00:19:54
So, I mean, I'm a
lawyer. I went to Harvard.
-
00:19:57
I've got all these
degrees and all that stuff,
-
00:20:00
and I still have to
navigate presumptions
-
00:20:02
of dangerousness and guilt.
-
00:20:03
I argued the case that
the US Supreme Court,
-
00:20:05
which we won, that
granted relieved a lot of kids.
-
00:20:07
I was going around the
country doing these hearings.
-
00:20:09
And I was in the
Midwest to do a hearing,
-
00:20:11
had my suit and tie
on, got to court early,
-
00:20:13
was sitting at defense
counsel's table.
-
00:20:15
And the judge walked in
-
00:20:16
and he saw me sitting
there and he got angry.
-
00:20:18
He said, "Hey, hey, you get
back out there in the hallway.
-
00:20:20
You wait until your
lawyer gets here.
-
00:20:22
I don't want any defendants
-
00:20:23
sitting in my courtroom
without their lawyer."
-
00:20:25
And I had to stand
up and apologize.
-
00:20:26
I said, "I'm sorry, Your Honor.
I didn't introduce myself.
-
00:20:29
My name is Bryan
Stevenson. I am the lawyer."
-
00:20:32
And the judge started laughing
-
00:20:34
and the prosecutor
started laughing.
-
00:20:35
And I made myself laugh
-
00:20:37
because I didn't want to
disadvantage my client,
-
00:20:39
who was more
vulnerable than I was.
-
00:20:40
The client came in.
We did the hearing.
-
00:20:42
But afterward I was
sitting in my car thinking,
-
00:20:44
"I'm a middle aged black
man with all of these degrees,
-
00:20:47
and I'm still required to
laugh at my own humiliation,
-
00:20:52
to defend my clients."
-
00:20:53
And what pains me
at this moment is that
-
00:20:55
you can be a pastor,
you can be a doctor,
-
00:20:57
you can be a lawyer,
you can be an engineer.
-
00:20:59
You can be loving,
you can be kind.
-
00:21:01
But if you're black or brown,
-
00:21:02
you go places in
this country where
-
00:21:04
you are required to navigate
-
00:21:06
these presumptions of
dangerousness and guilt.
-
00:21:09
And for a lot of us,
and I can speak to this
-
00:21:11
because I'm getting
older, it's exhausting.
-
00:21:14
You get tired of being
presumed dangerous and guilty.
-
00:21:17
You get tired of having to bear
-
00:21:18
the burden of incompetency
and of wrongfulness.
-
00:21:21
And that is why we
need to lift up justice.
-
00:21:25
We need to lift this
veil that contaminates
-
00:21:28
our ability to be one
with one another,
-
00:21:30
the way that we're
supposed to be.
-
00:21:33
– You know, doing the
hard work now pays off later.
-
00:21:36
It's like anything in life.
-
00:21:37
And it's why we're
investing in projects
-
00:21:39
that are changing the world.
– That's right.
-
00:21:41
We're not holding our
money for a rainy day.
-
00:21:43
We're spending it on life
changing things right now.
-
00:21:47
If you want to be a part of
-
00:21:48
making a difference
through Crossroads,
-
00:21:51
you can do something
bigger by giving.
-
00:21:54
Crossroads is a
church that tithes
-
00:21:56
and with your generosity,
God does amazing things.
-
00:21:59
– To be part of the
movement of Crossroads
-
00:22:01
just take the tithe test,
give for 90 days and see
-
00:22:04
if God doesn't do something
incredible in your life.
-
00:22:07
If after that time you
don't feel a difference
-
00:22:09
in your relationship with God
-
00:22:10
and you want your money back,
-
00:22:11
we'll actually give it all
back. No questions asked.
-
00:22:14
Just head to
Crossroads.net/tithetest
-
00:22:16
to sign up now.
-
00:22:20
– That story is hard to hear,
-
00:22:22
and yet as he shares
it, what I see in him,
-
00:22:25
and I was in the room for that,
-
00:22:27
is a man who has an
ability to show mercy,
-
00:22:31
to not hold that against
that judge forever.
-
00:22:33
Like there's just something
powerful happening there.
-
00:22:35
And that's the second
part of Micah 6:8:
-
00:22:38
What does it mean to love
kindness or to love mercy?
-
00:22:41
Now, the surface
level definition of mercy
-
00:22:44
that probably comes to
mind first when we hear it
-
00:22:46
is mercy is just about
letting people off the hook.
-
00:22:50
And I would say at a
surface level, that's true,
-
00:22:53
but biblical mercy is
so much more than that.
-
00:22:56
In fact, if you think
about what God did
-
00:22:58
to show you and I mercy,
it was incredibly costly
-
00:23:01
because it cost Him the
life of His firstborn Son,
-
00:23:04
His first begotten son, Jesus.
-
00:23:05
So there's a depth of mercy
-
00:23:07
that goes beneath just
the surface definition.
-
00:23:10
I think it's important
that we sit in this,
-
00:23:12
because if we're going
to journey as a church
-
00:23:15
on doing justice together,
it has to be coupled
-
00:23:18
with loving mercy and
offering mercy to each other.
-
00:23:23
You know, there's
a difference between
-
00:23:25
conviction and condemnation.
-
00:23:28
And I want to just, if I could,
-
00:23:30
pastor my white
brothers and sisters
-
00:23:31
who are listening here
for just a few moments,
-
00:23:34
because there's this
thing of white guilt
-
00:23:36
that's in our culture right now.
-
00:23:38
And it's it's real.
It's a real thing.
-
00:23:40
And I just want
to say that maybe
-
00:23:43
guilt isn't the best
term to understand
-
00:23:46
what's happening
when it comes to
-
00:23:47
what we generalize
this white guilt.
-
00:23:49
Because there's a difference
-
00:23:50
between conviction
and condemnation.
-
00:23:52
There's a biblical difference.
-
00:23:53
There's different
words used for that.
-
00:23:55
The biblical word
for condemnation
-
00:23:57
means judgment
has been pronounced.
-
00:23:59
You are done, you are guilty.
-
00:24:02
And it's actually
justice with no mercy.
-
00:24:04
That's really the way
to think about that.
-
00:24:06
But there's another word and
it's the word for conviction.
-
00:24:09
Conviction is that
like, "No, I am --
-
00:24:14
I am, I'm seeing something
here that I need to see.
-
00:24:17
It's hard to see,
but I need to see it."
-
00:24:18
The word for that in
the Bible was actually
-
00:24:20
a word that means
revealed or exposed.
-
00:24:22
And I believe that
in this moment,
-
00:24:24
for those who are leaning in,
-
00:24:25
God is revealing some
things and it is convicting.
-
00:24:28
You might say it's guilt,
but it might be conviction.
-
00:24:30
So I want to help
you, particularly
-
00:24:32
if you are white brother
and sister in this moment,
-
00:24:34
differentiate between those two
-
00:24:37
because conviction is from God
-
00:24:39
and you should accept it
-
00:24:41
because God wants
to invite you to change.
-
00:24:44
But condemnation
is from the evil one
-
00:24:46
and you should reject it because
-
00:24:48
condemnation says
you can never change.
-
00:24:50
Conviction leads
you to repentance.
-
00:24:53
The Bible is very clear on this.
-
00:24:54
One of my favorite verses
2 Corinthians 7:10 says:
-
00:24:57
Godly sorrow
leads to repentance,
-
00:24:59
which brings salvation
and leaves no regrets.
-
00:25:03
See, the conviction
that God calls you to
-
00:25:05
is a good conviction
that leads to repentance,
-
00:25:08
that helps you see
some things differently,
-
00:25:09
do some things differently.
-
00:25:11
And God does that for everybody.
-
00:25:12
But across the racial
lines, but I specifically
-
00:25:14
want to talk to my white
brothers and sisters,
-
00:25:16
because I believe
there are invitations
-
00:25:18
to repentance that may be
coming to you from the Lord.
-
00:25:21
And I don't want
you to miss those
-
00:25:22
because it is for your good.
-
00:25:25
Conviction inspires
you to keep going.
-
00:25:28
Condemnation tells you to quit
-
00:25:29
because nothing
will ever change.
-
00:25:31
And please hear me.
-
00:25:32
I'm not saying that God's
not bringing conviction
-
00:25:35
on black and indigenous people
of color who are listening.
-
00:25:38
I am deeply convicted,
almost weekly, if not daily,
-
00:25:41
that God is showing
me the things
-
00:25:43
I need to change in my heart.
-
00:25:44
The ways that I approach this,
-
00:25:46
the way I talk about
this that need to change.
-
00:25:48
So I'm not saying that at all.
-
00:25:49
I just want to come
alongside those who
-
00:25:51
might be wrestling
and even stuck in guilt
-
00:25:53
to say there is a difference
-
00:25:55
between condemnation
and conviction.
-
00:25:58
Let the Lord lead
you in conviction
-
00:26:00
because it will lead
you to good places.
-
00:26:02
But by all means, do not
buy into condemnation.
-
00:26:08
And so I want to talk
about what mercy looks like
-
00:26:11
for my black and indigenous
brothers and sisters
-
00:26:13
who were listening,
people of color like me.
-
00:26:15
I want to talk to us as
well, because we, too,
-
00:26:18
are coming under the conviction
-
00:26:20
of the Holy Spirit
in this moment.
-
00:26:21
And what Mercy looks
like for us is, is this.
-
00:26:23
You know, I think
about this all the time.
-
00:26:25
One of the things
that I don't like is
-
00:26:27
when someone
comes to me and says,
-
00:26:28
"What do you think black
people think about that?"
-
00:26:30
Like, I don't want to be the one
-
00:26:32
who represents all black
people of all time everywhere.
-
00:26:34
Right? None of us
want to be that person.
-
00:26:36
And yet we can do that to
our white brothers and sisters.
-
00:26:39
We can see them more as a group.
-
00:26:40
We can see them
more as their history.
-
00:26:43
We can see them
more as other identities
-
00:26:45
than seeing them as
individuals and choosing
-
00:26:47
to adopt the mindset
of Frederick Douglass,
-
00:26:49
who said,
-
00:26:55
So I think for black and
indigenous people of color,
-
00:26:58
what mercy looks like for us
-
00:27:00
is choosing to
see the individual
-
00:27:02
and come alongside
the journey of
-
00:27:06
the individual white
brother and sister
-
00:27:08
who is engaging, who is with us,
-
00:27:10
rather than lumping them
together in a group of people
-
00:27:12
that makes it much easier
for us to keep distance
-
00:27:14
and just assume
that they don't get it,
-
00:27:16
they don't care, and
they're not for justice.
-
00:27:21
So I think for us, it's
a different perspective,
-
00:27:24
but here's the thing,
Jesus promises
-
00:27:26
that for all of us, as
we lean into mercy,
-
00:27:28
guess what? We get more mercy.
-
00:27:30
In the Beatitudes, Jesus
says in Matthew 5:7:
-
00:27:38
Finally, Micah 6:8 calls us
to walk humbly with our God.
-
00:27:44
All throughout the Bible,
-
00:27:45
humility precedes
receiving God's grace.
-
00:27:49
God has a pension,
a desire, a love
-
00:27:53
of giving grace to
people who are humble.
-
00:27:55
Look at what it
says in 1 Peter 5:5:
-
00:28:07
I will tell you in even
preparing for this series,
-
00:28:09
one of the things
that I love about Brian,
-
00:28:11
our senior pastor, I love
a lot of things about him.
-
00:28:13
I love his aggression.
-
00:28:14
I love his sense of humor.
-
00:28:16
I love how honest
and transparent he is.
-
00:28:19
I love his vision and how
he has vision for our church.
-
00:28:23
And I also love his humility.
-
00:28:26
And so you may be
asking the question,
-
00:28:28
"All right, Chuck, I hear you,
-
00:28:30
but what does this mean for me?
-
00:28:32
What do I do if
God is calling me
-
00:28:35
(and I think He
is) to do justice?"
-
00:28:38
And Brian asked that
question of Bryan Stevenson.
-
00:28:40
And I want you to listen to
the answer to that question.
-
00:28:44
– But where I
always get caught up,
-
00:28:46
I was just having a conversation
-
00:28:47
with some staff members
about this just the other day
-
00:28:50
is I always get
short-circuited on,
-
00:28:53
OK, but what what
can we actually do?
-
00:28:56
– Yeah.
– What can happen?
-
00:28:57
We can talk about
the injustices.
-
00:29:00
It's awful that you have
a worse experience
-
00:29:03
in America when you are
more qualified in everything.
-
00:29:05
I've never been to Harvard.
-
00:29:07
I don't know if you know that.
-
00:29:08
I've never been to Harvard,
-
00:29:09
never desired to be in Harvard.
-
00:29:11
I think I could probably
spell Harvard. Okay?
-
00:29:14
And yet as being less
qualified in terms of
-
00:29:18
smarts and academics,
everything, my life
-
00:29:21
is going to be much
easier than yours because
-
00:29:26
I've never had a bad interaction
-
00:29:27
with an authority figure
simply because of my skin.
-
00:29:30
You have and you do regularly.
-
00:29:32
What do we do about it?
What do I do about that?
-
00:29:35
– Yeah, I think there are
four things I can recommend.
-
00:29:38
I think we have to commit
to getting closer to people
-
00:29:42
who are experiencing
inequality and injustice.
-
00:29:44
We can't separate
ourselves from those
-
00:29:46
who are marginalized
and excluded and abused.
-
00:29:48
We actually have to be
in fellowship with them
-
00:29:50
because when you're proximate,
-
00:29:52
you hear things you
won't otherwise hear,
-
00:29:54
you see things you
won't otherwise see,
-
00:29:55
and you actually
take on the burdens
-
00:29:57
of the excluded
and the disfavored.
-
00:29:59
They become your burdens
-
00:30:00
and it changes
your comfort level,
-
00:30:02
your space in that society.
-
00:30:05
The second thing
is that I actually think
-
00:30:07
we have to believe
things we haven't seen
-
00:30:10
about what we can achieve to
create a more just community.
-
00:30:14
If we accept that these
things are just inevitable,
-
00:30:17
that we'll never get
to anything better,
-
00:30:20
we won't actually be motivated
-
00:30:21
to do the things we have to do.
-
00:30:23
And then I think we have
to be willing to do things
-
00:30:25
that are uncomfortable
and inconvenient because
-
00:30:28
there is no pathway
to justice that
-
00:30:30
doesn't require some discomfort
and some inconvenience.
-
00:30:33
And finally, we
have to reflect on
-
00:30:36
our own complicity in the
world that's been created
-
00:30:40
that advantages us and
disadvantages others.
-
00:30:44
– You mentioned, for
me being complicitous.
-
00:30:49
What does that mean?
-
00:30:50
That means stuff has
happened, I'm white,
-
00:30:52
I should feel guilty
about that or what?
-
00:30:54
What does that mean?
-
00:30:55
– No, it just means that
we live in an environment
-
00:30:57
where our history
of racial injustice
-
00:30:59
has kind of created
these pollutants,
-
00:31:01
they're just in the air.
-
00:31:02
We've all been contaminated
-
00:31:05
by a long history
of racial bias,
-
00:31:08
narratives of racial difference.
-
00:31:10
We inherited that.
-
00:31:12
And a lot of us have been taught
-
00:31:14
that we can just ignore that,
-
00:31:15
we can be silent about that.
-
00:31:17
And some people have
argued that eventually
-
00:31:19
these toxins will dissipate
from the atmosphere.
-
00:31:21
Well, I don't think that's true.
-
00:31:23
These kinds of contaminants
are the kinds of things
-
00:31:26
that we have to actually
work to deal with.
-
00:31:29
We have to correct them.
-
00:31:30
And for me, racism is a sin.
-
00:31:33
White supremacy is a sin.
-
00:31:35
An ideology that insists
on racial hierarchy is a sin.
-
00:31:40
A belief system that
says that black people
-
00:31:42
aren't as good as
white people is a sin.
-
00:31:44
When we begin to
persuade ourselves that
-
00:31:47
black people are less
deserving, less capable,
-
00:31:49
less worthy, less human,
we actually are sinning
-
00:31:54
about what we understand to be
-
00:31:56
our calling as human beings.
-
00:31:58
And so we have to
now work to overcome
-
00:32:00
and confront the things
that have been embraced
-
00:32:02
around us that have
perpetuated that.
-
00:32:04
And that means just
ending the silence.
-
00:32:07
I don't think it's guilt.
-
00:32:09
I actually just think it's
recognizing, you know,
-
00:32:11
and I actually
think the church has
-
00:32:13
a critical role to
play in this because
-
00:32:15
we're supposed to
understand something about
-
00:32:17
how to help people
who have fallen down,
-
00:32:20
who've been misdirected
by sin and misjudgment.
-
00:32:24
And what we offer
people is redemption
-
00:32:27
and restoration and salvation.
-
00:32:29
And I don't talk
about these things
-
00:32:31
like lynching and
segregation and slavery
-
00:32:33
because I want
to punish America.
-
00:32:35
I want liberation.
-
00:32:36
I believe there's something
better waiting for us
-
00:32:39
all across this country,
-
00:32:40
something that feels
more like freedom,
-
00:32:42
feels more like justice,
feels more like equality.
-
00:32:44
It's waiting for us,
but to get there,
-
00:32:47
we have to have the
courage of our convictions
-
00:32:50
to end the silence,
-
00:32:51
to learn the things we
need to understand,
-
00:32:53
to talk about the things
we need to talk about.
-
00:32:56
And you can go
all around the world
-
00:32:57
and you'll see
manifestations of this problem.
-
00:33:00
You see a group with power
-
00:33:02
othering people with less power
-
00:33:04
and using that difference --
– "Othering," I like that.
-
00:33:07
Yeah, and it can be
based on ethnicity.
-
00:33:10
It can be based on tribes.
-
00:33:11
You had a genocide in
Rwanda that wasn't about color.
-
00:33:15
It was about tribal affiliation.
-
00:33:16
It can be based on religion.
-
00:33:18
It can be based on
whether you're an immigrant
-
00:33:19
or not an immigrant.
-
00:33:20
So it can manifest
itself everywhere.
-
00:33:23
But we shouldn't
allow that to distract us
-
00:33:25
from the fact in America
that we have been shaped
-
00:33:28
around a very specific
divide shaped by race.
-
00:33:32
Forty one states in this
country until the 1960s
-
00:33:35
had laws that
prohibited a white person
-
00:33:39
from being in a
romantic relationship
-
00:33:41
with a black person.
-
00:33:42
That's during the 20th century.
-
00:33:44
Most of us were born at a
time when that wasn't allowed.
-
00:33:47
We did not allow
people who were black
-
00:33:50
to go to school with
people who were white.
-
00:33:52
We were shaped into
thinking about the world
-
00:33:55
through that color lens.
-
00:33:57
And so that is the challenge
-
00:33:58
that we have to confront here.
-
00:33:59
But you're right, it is a
universal human problem
-
00:34:02
and there'll be new
challenges if we're not careful.
-
00:34:05
If we allow ourselves
to be persuaded
-
00:34:06
that people who are
immigrants are somehow
-
00:34:09
more dangerous, less
worthy, less capable,
-
00:34:11
then we're going to
see that kind of bias.
-
00:34:13
People who have a
different faith than we do,
-
00:34:15
people who are from the MidEast,
-
00:34:16
people who are Muslim,
-
00:34:17
people who are
in different spaces.
-
00:34:19
And that's why we
have to understand that
-
00:34:23
we are called to love
all of God's children.
-
00:34:27
And that, for me, is
where it all boils down to.
-
00:34:29
And if we understand
our capacity to love
-
00:34:31
to be disrupted by bias,
-
00:34:33
that's something
we've got to work on.
-
00:34:34
– Let's say you're leading
a rather large church
-
00:34:40
that has campuses
in more than one state,
-
00:34:45
and you have people who
are all across the spectrum
-
00:34:49
in terms of their
political affiliation
-
00:34:52
and their skin tones.
-
00:34:55
What would you
do if you were me?
-
00:34:57
Because I feel like no
matter what happens,
-
00:35:00
I can't win, I cannot win.
-
00:35:03
– Well, I actually
think we have to --
-
00:35:06
– I don't mean, like,
give me a defense,
-
00:35:07
like what would
you do in terms of
-
00:35:09
the energy of the church?
-
00:35:11
What to do with how often
you talk about something?
-
00:35:14
Your budget, like,
what would that be?
-
00:35:17
– I would begin by
preaching from Micah 6:8
-
00:35:23
about how we can't really
claim to be God's children,
-
00:35:28
we can't actually claim
to be honoring the faith.
-
00:35:31
– Micah 6:8.
-
00:35:32
I was just memorizing
that earlier. So good.
-
00:35:35
Maybe remind me exactly
what Micah 6:8 said. Yeah.
-
00:35:39
– And so in Micah 6:8,
the prophet is asked,
-
00:35:41
"Well, what does
God want from us?
-
00:35:43
What kind of offerings
do we need to make
-
00:35:45
to have the favor of God?"
-
00:35:47
And Micah responds that
what God requires of us
-
00:35:50
is not any of the
burnt offerings,
-
00:35:52
not giving away
your first child,
-
00:35:53
not all of that ornate stuff,
-
00:35:55
not coming to
church every Sunday,
-
00:35:57
not wearing the best clothes,
-
00:35:58
not having the most to tithe.
-
00:36:00
What God requires of
us is that we do justice,
-
00:36:03
that we love mercy, and
that we walk humbly with Him.
-
00:36:07
And I believe that we
haven't preached on,
-
00:36:10
we haven't taught on,
we haven't thought about
-
00:36:12
what doing justice require.
-
00:36:14
And in a nation
where some people
-
00:36:17
are disfavored and
marginalized and excluded
-
00:36:19
and treated unfairly
because of their color,
-
00:36:22
doing justice means that
we have to speak about that.
-
00:36:24
If unarmed black
people are being shot
-
00:36:26
by the police in ways that
-
00:36:27
are just absolutely
unacceptable,
-
00:36:29
we have to speak about that.
-
00:36:31
If there are disparities
based on how people
-
00:36:33
are treating based
on their color,
-
00:36:34
we have to talk about that.
-
00:36:36
And we have to talk
about it from a place of love.
-
00:36:39
I think when we talk and lead,
-
00:36:42
we have to invite
people to learn because
-
00:36:44
we haven't learned the
things we need to understand.
-
00:36:47
– Bryan Stevenson, this
has been fantastic, brother.
-
00:36:50
I mean, truly brother.
-
00:36:51
I came here wanting
to interact with you
-
00:36:54
on race and justice issues,
-
00:36:57
having no real
understanding of just kind of
-
00:37:01
the deep spiritual
well you drink from
-
00:37:03
and I've just enjoyed
every minute being with you.
-
00:37:06
So thank you for
pouring into us.
-
00:37:08
Thank you for challenging
us and encouraging us.
-
00:37:12
– You know, as we
come to the last minutes
-
00:37:14
of this series, I just
want to remind you,
-
00:37:16
we did not do this series
to give social commentary.
-
00:37:19
We did this series
for the spiritual health
-
00:37:22
and formation of our church.
-
00:37:24
Racism is a sin.
-
00:37:27
And just like every
other sin in the Bible,
-
00:37:30
it is dealt with by the
power of Jesus on the Cross.
-
00:37:33
And when we repent of that sin,
-
00:37:36
we're invited to walk
a different direction,
-
00:37:38
a direction that
leads to more life
-
00:37:40
and leads us to more of
what Jesus has for all of us.
-
00:37:44
And when that life gets applied,
-
00:37:46
not just personally,
but across a structure,
-
00:37:49
across an institution,
across a country,
-
00:37:52
God's blessings begin to flow.
-
00:37:54
In Micah we see this.
-
00:37:55
God promises in Micah that
-
00:37:57
He's going to bring
a shepherd forth.
-
00:37:59
It's one of the early
prophecies of Jesus
-
00:38:02
that we see at the end
of the book of Micah
-
00:38:03
that He's going to
bring a Good Shepherd
-
00:38:05
and that Good Shepherd
is going to bring prosperity,
-
00:38:07
not just at the
individual level,
-
00:38:09
but at the structural
level for everyone.
-
00:38:11
That's what the Kingdom
of God is all about.
-
00:38:15
And so I want you to
be asking this question
-
00:38:18
at the end of this series:
-
00:38:19
God, what does all
of this mean for me?
-
00:38:24
God, what are you
inviting me to do?
-
00:38:28
How do I do justice, love mercy,
-
00:38:32
and walk humbly with You?
-
00:38:34
Because that's
the call for all of us.
-
00:38:36
God's calling all
of us to something
-
00:38:38
and Micah 6:8 summarizes
that for us so powerfully well.
-
00:38:42
And here's a beautiful picture
-
00:38:44
that I hope gives
you encouragement.
-
00:38:47
As we obey, as we
walk in this direction,
-
00:38:52
we get to see a
glimpse of heaven.
-
00:38:54
When we were with
Bryan Stevenson,
-
00:38:56
he shared a true story
-
00:38:57
that you're going to
now see dramatized,
-
00:38:59
but it's a true
story, a recent story.
-
00:39:03
And man, as I sat there
and heard him share it,
-
00:39:05
my heart just filled
with hope because
-
00:39:08
this is what's possible when
we follow God's direction.
-
00:39:33
– One of the exhibits
in our museum
-
00:39:34
is a collection of
jars filled with soil,
-
00:39:38
and these are
jars with the names
-
00:39:40
of lynching victims
and the dates.
-
00:39:42
And we asked people
to go to lynching sites
-
00:39:44
and actually fill
the jar with soil
-
00:39:46
from the lynching site
to honor these people
-
00:39:48
who've never been acknowledged.
-
00:39:50
And we've been doing
this for several years
-
00:39:52
and we have hundreds
of jars in the site.
-
00:39:54
And we did one in west
Alabama a couple of years back.
-
00:39:57
And a middle aged black woman
-
00:39:58
went to a site to collect soil
-
00:40:01
and she was nervous
about it because
-
00:40:02
the site she went to
was kind of remote.
-
00:40:25
But when she got
there, she said,
-
00:40:27
"I'm going to do this,"
and she found the lynching space
-
00:40:29
and she got down on her knees.
-
00:40:44
And she said a man
drove by in a pickup truck,
-
00:40:46
white guy, and he
started staring at her.
-
00:40:51
She got really afraid.
-
00:40:55
And then the man
parked his truck
-
00:40:56
and he got out of the truck.
-
00:40:59
He started walking toward her.
-
00:41:07
We tell people that
they don't have to explain
-
00:41:09
what they're doing, so
she was just going to say,
-
00:41:11
"I'm getting dirt
from my garden."
-
00:41:13
And this man walked over to her,
-
00:41:14
and sure enough, he
said, "What are you doing?"
-
00:41:17
And she told me later,
she said, "Mr. Stevenson,
-
00:41:19
something got ahold of me.
-
00:41:20
And when that man
asked me that, I told him,
-
00:41:22
'I'm digging soil
because this is where
-
00:41:24
a black man was lynched
-
00:41:25
and I'm going to
honor his life today."
-
00:41:27
And she said she got afraid
-
00:41:28
and she started digging
and the man just stood there.
-
00:41:30
And we give everybody a memo
-
00:41:31
that talks about the lynching.
-
00:41:33
And the man said,
-
00:41:34
"Does that paper talk
about the lynching?"
-
00:41:36
She said, "It does."
-
00:41:37
And then he said,
"Can I read it?"
-
00:41:39
She gave the man the
paper. He read the paper.
-
00:41:41
And afterward he
put the paper down
-
00:41:43
and he shocked her by
saying, "Excuse me, ma'am,
-
00:41:46
but would it be all
right if I helped you?"
-
00:41:49
And she said, yes,
and she said that man
-
00:41:51
got down on his
knees next to her
-
00:41:53
and she said he started
throwing his hands into the soil
-
00:41:56
and putting in the dirt and
kept throwing his hands.
-
00:41:58
And she said he was
doing it with such conviction
-
00:42:01
his hands were turning
black with the soil.
-
00:42:03
And he kept doing
it and it moved her.
-
00:42:05
And he kept digging
with his hands
-
00:42:07
and she kept digging
with the implement.
-
00:42:08
And they got near
the top of that jar
-
00:42:10
and she looked at him
and he was slowing down.
-
00:42:12
And then she saw that
his shoulders were shaking
-
00:42:15
and then she saw a tear
running down his face.
-
00:42:17
And she stopped and she
put her hand on his shoulder.
-
00:42:19
She said, "Are you all right?"
-
00:42:21
And the man said, "No,
no, no, I'm not all right."
-
00:42:23
And then the man
said, "I'm just so worried
-
00:42:26
it might have been
my grandfather
-
00:42:27
who participated in
lynching this man."
-
00:42:30
And she said they both sat
there on the roadside weeping.
-
00:42:33
She said, "I'm going
back to Montgomery
-
00:42:35
to put this jar in the museum."
-
00:42:36
And the man said,
-
00:42:37
"Would it be all right
if I followed you?"
-
00:42:39
And he came back with her
-
00:42:40
and I watched these
people enter that space.
-
00:42:43
And beautiful things like that
-
00:42:44
don't always happen
when we tell the truth,
-
00:42:47
but until we tell the truth,
-
00:42:48
we deny ourselves the
beauty that is redemption,
-
00:42:52
that is justice.
-
00:42:53
And what I want people
to understand is that
-
00:42:55
they are welcome
to kneel with us
-
00:42:57
who are trying to
resurrect this history
-
00:42:59
that we've forgotten, to join us
-
00:43:01
in putting the soil
in the jar and help us
-
00:43:03
lift up the truth that we
might get to this better place.
-
00:43:06
There is something
better waiting for us.
-
00:43:08
And I want it not just
for my friends and family,
-
00:43:11
not for my community.
I want it for everybody.
-
00:43:14
But we can't get there if
we don't come together.
-
00:43:16
And that's the power
of the opportunity
-
00:43:20
of the moment that we're in.
-
00:43:21
And we are in a moment, yes,
-
00:43:23
of conflict and division,
of fear and anger.
-
00:43:26
But we are also in a moment
-
00:43:28
where an invitation
is being offered.
-
00:43:29
That's why we built these sites.
-
00:43:31
They are an invitation to all
-
00:43:33
who are looking
for something better.
-
00:43:35
It's a place where you
can confront the truth
-
00:43:36
and maybe it will
cause confession,
-
00:43:38
maybe it will cause repentance.
-
00:43:40
But that's the
path to salvation.
-
00:43:42
That's the path to restoration.
-
00:43:43
That's the path to redemption
-
00:43:45
and we should be
excited about that.
-
00:43:53
– We can't get to
a new place alone.
-
00:43:55
We need God, we
need God to help us.
-
00:43:58
So I want to invite us to finish
-
00:44:00
our time in this series,
praying together.
-
00:44:02
Right now, we're going
to do a prayer experience.
-
00:44:05
So stay with me because
-
00:44:06
I'm going to ask
you some questions.
-
00:44:09
And you can do
this on your phone.
-
00:44:11
You can do this on paper
-
00:44:13
or you can do
this in your heart.
-
00:44:19
This time is for you and God.
-
00:44:22
We will go through
three steps together.
-
00:44:26
First, take a moment
-
00:44:29
and be completely
unfiltered with God,
-
00:44:31
He can handle it.
-
00:44:33
Where are you frustrated?
-
00:44:36
Where do you feel stuck?
-
00:44:38
As it relates to this series,
-
00:44:40
what do you think
He's asking you to do?
-
00:44:46
And are you willing?
-
00:45:22
Next, we all have
biases, prejudices,
-
00:45:25
and actions that do not reflect
-
00:45:27
God's heart for all people,
but the good news is
-
00:45:30
when we invite Him in,
He can change our hearts
-
00:45:33
unlike anyone or anything else.
-
00:45:36
So be specific.
-
00:45:38
Where do you want
a change of heart?
-
00:45:59
Finally, the goal isn't simply
-
00:46:01
to have the right beliefs,
-
00:46:03
it's to extend God's Kingdom.
-
00:46:06
So where do you think
God is asking you to lean in
-
00:46:09
and take a step, and
how might you do that
-
00:46:12
with both conviction
and gentleness?
-
00:46:16
Ask God what He
would like you to do,
-
00:46:19
and again, be as
specific as possible.
-
00:51:54
– Thank you so much
for journeying with us
-
00:51:56
in the What Color
is God? series.
-
00:51:58
Again, this series is
for the spiritual formation
-
00:52:01
and health of our
church, and I believe
-
00:52:03
it can set us up for a way that
-
00:52:05
God wants to break
through with more hope,
-
00:52:08
more unity, more
justice, more goodness
-
00:52:11
that doesn't just
impact us or our church,
-
00:52:13
but actually impacts the places
-
00:52:15
and the people where we live.
-
00:52:18
We'll see you next week.
-
00:52:22
– We all agree that
justice is critical,
-
00:52:24
but as you can see,
actually delivering
-
00:52:26
on that promise of true justice
-
00:52:28
is not nearly as simple as
we sometimes like to believe.
-
00:52:32
In spite of that, our
goal with this video,
-
00:52:34
with this whole series,
is that you walk away
-
00:52:37
with more clarity and
hope around these topics
-
00:52:39
than what you started with.
-
00:52:40
– So check out every week
of this three week series
-
00:52:43
at Crossroads.net,
-
00:52:44
and don't miss next
week on Crossroads.
-
00:52:50
– I want to take
you on a journey,
-
00:52:53
a journey of one of the
world's most powerful animals
-
00:52:56
as he learns how to be free
-
00:52:57
and discover what
he was created for.
-
00:53:00
This is my story.
It's the gospel.
-
00:53:04
This is the living hope.