White. Black. We Breathe the Same Air.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 says that 

“there is a time to keep silence and a time to speak”.

At the start of the virus outbreak I felt that it was a time to speak. There was something to say. There was a need to encourage other Christians and try to answer some of the questions that crisis was raising about God.

In the last few weeks I felt that it was a time to keep silent.

Several reasons.

There is a mushroom-cloud of virus responses on the internet. It is saturated with voices claiming to be Christian.  I don’t want to add to that cacophony.

People have settled into new routines and are not asking the same questions any more. Along with others, I am weary of the information overload and don’t want to contribute to it.

The coronavirus discussion has revolved more and more around political issues. It saddens me that the sense of goodwill that brought communities together can turn so quickly into partisan political finger-pointing and vigilante social-distance policing. It was never the purpose of this blog to engage in those kind of blame-games.

Positively, I had opportunity to sit and listen to some online training sessions with Paul Mallard talking about suffering and disappointment, and Helen Thorne looking at pastoral care including some tricky case studies on issues like ministering to domestic abuse victims (keywords link to books by Paul and Helen which are well worth exploring). It did me good to stop and give dedicated time to listening and I am extremely grateful for their ministry to me.

All this said, the things that have taken place in these last days have left me lost for words. Whilst economies are being sacrificed and hospital staff are fighting to keep virus-infected people breathing worldwide, a handcuffed man was suffocated by an American policeman. The two men - one black and one white - were so close together that they were literally breathing the same air. Yet the differences in their skin colour and the imbalance of power and authority created such a chasm between them that one took the other’s life.

Since the death in police custody of George Floyd, the civil unrest, peaceful protest, and political oppression that has followed, it has, for me, been time to keep silent. This is not because I feel indifferent. Like you, I feel deeply about what I am seeing. But others are speaking out of the deep pain and anger at injustice they are experiencing and I am trying to listen. There are things I want to say but - quite honestly - I cannot quite find the words.

White. Black. We breathe the same air. There is one God who

“Gives to all mankind life and BREATH and everything” (Acts 17:25).

Being speechless won’t kill me.

Being breathless for 8 minutes would.