The point is fire and the church means something real to black Christians in the United States.
It would be ignorant for us to ignore such an historical and violent truth - black churches were burned all over our country because of the color of the skin of those who attended, white people who loved and supported the people in black churches found crosses burning in their front yards simply because they would not comply with the notion that black people were worth less.
In the past couple weeks, there have been eight fires at southern black churches. None of these fires have been ruled "hate crimes" (whatever that means, as any fire started intentionally by a person is clearly due to some sort of hate...), but all of them are still being investigated. Many out there in the social media world have a tendency to act as though it makes a difference whether or not the powers that be designate these as acts of racism.
The fact is that whether or not they are organized acts of racism does not change the impact on the black community and black churches.
It is impossible to take away the memories of what has transpired over our tumultuous history. You can't erase it and think it won't impact people later. This is not some post to talk about the pros and cons of reparations or affirmative action or any other form of trying to make a level playing field or paying back for past hurts.
The truth is there is no paying it back.
The point here is to encourage people to see that even if a lightning bolt started the fire, a black congregation cannot watch their church burn without the memories of what that meant to them and their parents and their grandparents.
Can we stop the lightning bolt? Of course not. But we can honor the memory and support those who are hurting as they watch their place of worship be destroyed. And most importantly, we can stop coming up for reasons why this isn't racism.
"Could be a black person just trying to get people riled up about racism again."
(Yes, I may have read the comments section under a news story...forgive me.)
And what if it was a black person? Perceived racism is just as hurtful to a community as actual racism. It still creates fear, hatred, animosity, uncertainty, and a need for revenge. It still divides.
And yet again, for the people watching their house of worship go up in flames, the cause just doesn't matter very much. Our society is at a perfect storm moment between heightened acts of racism and a general hatred for the church and what it stands for. Our black brothers and sisters in Christ are hurting.
Our pastor, who I happened to be married to, has a line he uses in many of his sermons (I am not nearly as eloquent as him, but this is my best shot) - "Sin divides while Christ unifies; where Satan and sin would have us be separated on all levels - from God and from each other, Christ brings us back to the Father and to each other."
There is no repaying for burned churches. There is no repaying for past sins. There is only Christ. In Him, we are unified. And because we are unified in Him, we fall to our knees with them as we watch our churches crumble and pray, "Lord, have mercy."
