What Can We Do?

I have been asked recently, more times than I can count, in response to police violence against black persons, the killing of police officers in Dallas and elsewhere, and the growing racial tensions in our society, "What can we do?" The answer, much to the disappointment of some of my colleagues and friends, is NOT JUST prayer.

Note, please, that I write that the answer lies NOT JUST in prayer. Prayer is important, especially if we ask in it for God's guidance and wisdom, seeking direction and purpose, and shutting up long enough to listen for a divine response. The Spirit in us will direct us, if we are willing to put it to work in accomplishing God's will. So, prayer is important. But it alone will not solve the problems of racial injustice or social discord. In order to impact those social ills, we will have to do far more than just prayer.

When I make this response to the question,"What can we do?" I see disappointment and frustration on the face and body language of those who dare to ask. The truth is that there is no magic elixir, no magical liturgy, no articulate prayer, no hymn, no incantation, no belief system that puts and end to racially motivated social injustice. The only practical response to the social problems that we face are the active practice of their opposites.

Here is the assumption that I make. I assume that much of the violence and hatred that we are experiencing is an unconscious attempt to pull the cultural evolution that has been moving toward acceptance, tolerance, and embrace of diversity, taking place since 1968, or so, back into the prior segregationist, divisive, stratified culture of 1950's America. Fear of the other is disappearing in the developing cultural ethos. Acceptance of persons who live differently is expanding and deepening. Personal and social responsibility for a vast array of persons is becoming commonplace. We are learning to tolerate, affirm, love and accept those who are unlike whatever "us" we claim.

That challenge has proven too large for some who cling to previous models of exclusivity, on both ends of the social spetrum. For some who have been privileged, it has proven to threaten that privilege. For some who have been victimized, it has removed justification for orienting one's self as deserving special treatment or special attention. The response of those few has been hate-filled and violent. They are protecting the way of life that they have come to accept and appreciate.

Notice, please, that I did not claim that all persons of privilege feel or react with hate and violence. Notice also, please, that I did not write that all persons who are victimized have responded with hatred and violence. In both cases, it has been a relatively small population. But the hate-fueled, violent, responses have been so powerful, that they must not be ignored. They must not be justified.

The only real option is for the vast majority of persons to act in such a way that hastens the evolutionary process toward acceptance, toleration, diversity, and mutual responsibility. To put the answer to the question, "What can we do?" more succinctly, we can borrow from recent Common Lectionary scriptures to say "Love your neighbor as yourself." If the vast majority of Americans lived according to this seemingly simple ethic, then the cultural evolution toward peace, compassion, and unity would be promoted. We would hasten the evolutionary process, putting an end to the violence and hate that seek to pull American culture backward.

So, what can we do? We can act according to the core ethic of every world religion and every spiritual principle. We can go out of our way for one another, sacrifing our own claims to "us," and accepting that every person is potentially our neighbor, our brother, our sister, our friend. By doing so, we quite literally and practically change the world in which we live. We engage in transformative ministry. We change lives.

"Do that." Jesus said to the lawyer who had challenged him, "and you will really, truly, completely live."