06-01-21

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
June 1, 2021
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:29
In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”

Thought for the Day: Yesterday and today mark the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Last night, I watched the PBS special to reeducate myself on the horrific events perpetrated against the Black community in a part of Tulsa, a city within a city, called Greenwood. By the end of June 1 of 1921, 35 city blocks were burned to the ground, 300 people were dead and more than 6,000 were being held in custody. Yet as quickly as the events had occurred, they seemed to have been forgotten beyond those most impacted. It was not national news, except those stories that spun the event as a riot by an out of control mob of black men. Nothing was further from the truth.

What happens when the truth is buried, and there is never any confession and repentance? We have come to believe that if enough time has past, the sins of the parents are somehow stored and forgotten in the locked filing cabinet of history. Yet the Prophets of Ancient Israel knew very well how the sins of the past cannot simply be swept under the carpet. The sour taste of the parents’ failure was no longer tasted by the children, but only after confession, absolution and some attempt was made to right the wrong. We all probably know a situation where the impact of domestic violence, alcoholism or bigotry was not contained to those immediately involved. The pain can last generations. And though we believe in a God of new beginnings, those new beginnings emerge on the other side of truth, confession, acts of repentance and the making of amends where possible. I can point to multiple examples in families, communities and nations where the children and grandchildren’s teeth are still set on edge because of the sour grapes eaten by a previous generation.

Prayer: It is hard to accept responsibility and seek to right a wrong. We understand quite well why previous generations have wanted to pretend the failures of the past should stay in the past. But Lord, that only gives permission for another generation and another to continue to live in the ongoing implications of the unconfessed sins and immoral actions of the past. In your mercy, teach us the importance of telling the truth and acknowledging the pain that has been caused, even when we were not the perpetrators. A healthy future is only built in a community where the darkest moments in the past are brought into the light. Amen.

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