As I was getting dressed this morning I opted for a shirt I bought off of Etsy in lieu of the racial unrest sweeping our nation. It’s a quote from Desmond Tutu. It says, 

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.“*

Desmond Tutu is a retired bishop in the Anglican church and is widely known as a social justice advocate in South Africa. In the 1980s he took a stand as an opponent of apartheid.

Today, friends, we need to follow in his footsteps and in the footsteps of Christ. We need to pick sides and take a stand against systemic racism.

We like to convince ourselves that the way of Jesus looks like keeping our mouths shut and being “peacemakers.” And while Jesus did say, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God,” I’d like to propose that we’ve misunderstood what Jesus means by “peace.” Because later in the same Gospel of Matthew, Jesus declares,

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”* 

What?! We think of peace and we think of calm, quiet, keeping our opinions to ourselves and making sure no one is fighting. But, you guys, that’s not real peace. That’s placating. That’s appeasing, propitiating. It’s what the Deceiver uses to divide us and keep us from fighting injustices with the sword of the Holy Spirit. 

So today, friends, I want to challenge you to ask Jesus to show you what it would look like to wield the sword of the Spirit* today, to be a fighter against injustice, to be a protestor of racism, to choose the side of the oppressed in situations of injustice. 

We must do so in the power of the Spirit of Truth and Love and Kindness, which won’t come easily. But this cannot wait. We must use our own platforms, our Instagram Accounts, our FB pages, our family dinners, our classrooms, and our workplaces to speak up and take sides for the sake of healing and wholeness to exist in the Kingdom of God.