Sojourners,

This past year has been challenging on so many fronts for so many reasons.

One of the things that has come more clearly into view over the last year is racial injustice in our country. Not because it is new, but because we have a new and growing awareness of what many of our black and brown neighbors experience.

Many of us have prayed, read, watched, discussed, marched, learned, and lamented. At points it seems we have taken two steps forward and one step back and sometimes one step forward and two steps back. But I am thankful we are taking steps.

In the midst of the last year, one thing that has been happening (but I haven’t heard talked about as much) is the increase in violence against Asian and Asian-American men and women. Things like increased (and often incorrect) rhetoric related to the cause and source of the coronavirus have led some of our neighbors to feel justified in attacking, physically and verbally, other neighbors because of what they look.

This week eight people were murdered in Atlanta. Many of them Asian. We do not know all of the reasons and motives of the murderer. But these killings have added fuel to an already present and increasing fear among our neighbors of Asian ethnicity.

So I write to you today, not only because of what happened in Atlanta, but because many of our neighbors are hurting.

I know I’ve said this a lot over the last year, but let me say it again: All people are made in the image of God. That means all men and women, from the womb to the tomb, are inherently valuable.

I feel like I’ve said it a lot, but maybe I need to say it more. Maybe we all need to say it more.

As followers of King Jesus and citizens of his Kingdom we must celebrate this truth and stand up against any maligning or marginalizing of it, whether done in word or deed.

Violence against anyone is wrong. Violence against someone because of their ethnicity is wickedness.

As people who follow a King whose Kingdom is not of this world, we can use our voices and our actions to clearly communicate that xenophobic and racist behavior of any kind is heinous because it is antithetical to the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

May we weep with those who weep. May we pray and work for justice and peace. May we set an example and be a community brought together and sustained by the gospel—a message of peace and reconciliation that tears down all dividing walls of hostility.

May we stand up for and with our neighbors.

.grace and peace.
Justin