Lightbearers, Ferguson and Peace

As I write this column, Ferguson, Missouri is in flames.  The anger, the shouts of injustice, and smoke from burning cars and buildings fill the air in this normally sedate Midwestern town.  Police and other law enforcement agencies seem helpless to quell the tension and to fully protect the property and citizenry.

I realize we can never fully enter into the decision that drove officer Wilson to fire on Michael Brown.  We cannot fully appreciate or understand the dynamics of that moment.

I realize that, as a conservative, white male in America I have never fully felt the sting of prejudice or the pain of injustice as many who have fought for civil rights in our nation have had to endure.   Clearly, the racial divide in America has not gone away.

And I realize that, as a father, I cannot walk deeply into the valley of the shadow of death as Michael Brown’s parents have been forced to do as they grapple with being the parents of a child taken from them by violence.

But as a believer in and follower of the Lamb of God I realize that, in this day of cultural change and ultimately cultural collapse, the urgency of our message has never been greater.  We have a message of peace that is the answer for the violence and chaos of Ferguson, Mo and every home, every workplace, every school and every streetcorner where violence and darkness seem to rule the day.  The Prince of Peace is the answer that we need. Ferguson, Missouri needs it.  So do Kabul and Jerusalem and Miami and Jacksonville.

Will we be carriers of the message….purveyors of Peace in a violent world?  Or will we shrink back from telling the Good News to those who need it most in these urgent and troubling times?

May the fires of Ferguson fuel a flame in each of us that moves us forward with THE message of Peace….the only answer.

“His name shall be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”