Messiness in the Community ~ Chris Keim

Staff, March 23, 2021

“One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see!”  ~John 9: 25b 

Community can be defined in a number of ways. We can talk about the neighborhood we live in, the town, the county or beyond. We can define it. If we talk about the greater Milwaukee area as a community, we will include people who do not necessarily look like us. Physically, we may see that they have darker skin and different hair. We may see that their lives look very different too. We may see they live in substandard housing. We may see they have less access to quality healthcare. We may see they have increased incidence of illnesses and health issues such as asthma, diabetes and lead poisoning. We may see that they struggle more in school and often drop out before graduating. We may see that they end up being incarcerated at higher rates. We may see that they end up working a minimum wage job, without benefits or healthcare. We may see that they end up on welfare.
During the pandemic so much has happened. A few of the things that have come to light in the community at this time are:
- We have seen people of color in our community experience higher rates of infection, hospitalization and death due to COVID.
- We have seen, on video, a white police officer in the context of his official duty, put his knee on the neck of a black man, to the extent that he could not breathe and the black man, George Floyd died.
- We have seen the expression on the white police officer’s face as George Floyd told him he could not breathe.
- We have seen the spread through the community of a new. understanding of BLACK LIVES MATTER and an increase of white people in the community supporting it and speaking it and living it out.
We can see this new understanding as the Holy Spirit and Jesus' Light working and moving and healing in our community. It works through seeing that our thoughts, our words and our actions about others in our community matter. It works through seeing that the healing needs to take place in all parts of the community. We can see that the community is the Body of Christ, and once it includes all unhindered, Jesus’ healing flows like a river through all of it.

Dear Heavenly Father, You sent your Son to forgive and heal us. Open our eyes, our hearts and our minds to include ALL in the community as the Body of Christ. Bring your Kingdom through us in this way. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.