Recently, on August 12, 2017 Antifa and White Supremacist demonstrators clashed with one another in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia leaving three people dead and dozens more injured. No police officers in sight according to the New York Times. This event had nothing to do with “Black Lives Matter” or any other movements working for justice. What the press has not told America is that “white thugs” from both groups brutally beat up Pastors from local churches in Charlottesville before a car driven by a “white supremacists” was driven into a crowd and killed Heather Heyer. Although, the US Constitution protects “Free Speech,” and “The right to assemble,” it does not protect “violence,” whether instigated by a protester or police force. Our nation is on the verge of anarchy because we have not address our nation’s original sin.
On August 17, 1967 as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was addressing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference he said, “I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. When one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.”
Six months later on Feb. 4, 1968, Dr. King addressed the heart of our national problem in an extraordinary sermon given in his church entitled “The Drum Major Instinct.” Taking the passage from Mark 10:35 where James and John were arguing about who would sit on Jesus’ right hand or left; Dr. King stated, “Before we condemn these two disciples too quickly, we need to look calmly and honestly at ourselves.” He said, “When we do, we will discover that we too have those same basic desires for recognition, self importance, or a kind of drum major instinct— a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first.”
Webster defines “Racism” as a prejudice, discrimination, an antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Dr. King said that day, we all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade. According to psychotherapist Alfred Adler, this quest for recognition, attention, or distinction drives us to be superior to others. For me, this is the basis of all racism. According to II Thessalonians 2:3-4, it’s an antichrist spirit that drives the man of sin within us. It compels us to become narcissistic and propagate our own self-importance. However, Jesus said, "But it must not be so among you.”
In the shadow of Roman Imperialism (filled with all its images of superiority and exceptionalism) The Apostle Paul wrote, In Eph. 3:10 “God’s intent is that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the principalities and powers.” The most shameful, honor-less place in the empire was a cross. This is where all of our work has to begin. Today, we have gathered together, as the people of God, to say that Jesus Christ is our only hope in bringing healing and reconciliation to our national divide.
The Emancipation Proclamation did not fix our national problem any more than a law can change the hearts of men. The prevailing principality that we are all wrestling with is “dehumanization,” “slavery” and “racism” that is now embedded in our legal system and institutions. It’s foundations are in The Doctrine of Discovery, Maryland’s 1638 Doctrine of Exclusion, the McIntosh vs. Johnson case of 1823, the Dred Scott Decision in 1857, the Board of Indian Affairs Residential School System, and the unfinished business of Section 5 of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution. None of these issues have been addressed or resolved by our government or the institutions that have fueled racism, which also includes the complicity of the Church. This is why we need a cultural transformation in the life of the Church before there can be a cultural reform in our Nation to end institutionalized racism. We all know the national problem in racism and that we seek solutions. However, we all need the “Manifold Wisdom of God” to be made known so that we can offer the “tools and resources” necessary for human dignity to be restored, where it has been denied.
God is calling each of us to get out of ourselves and to challenge ourselves, our friends, and churches all across America to reorder our priorities. We are not called to be the greatest church leaders of our time, or build the greatest churches in our nation, state or cities. The mission of the church is to just be the best church on the block, block by block, to have meaningful conversations, to build the relationships necessary to establish trust, present Jesus and work together in finding solutions to our national dilemma. In my view, we have a unique opportunity to bring about cultural transformation and bring an end to racism in our time. But it will require all of us to address “The Drum Major Instinct” in our own hearts first, before we can bring about change in our nation.
