Psalm 39

Read this first:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+39&version=NIV

I said, “I will watch my ways
    and keep my tongue from sin;
I will put a muzzle on my mouth
    while in the presence of the wicked.”

The last few days I’ve spent probably more time talking than listening. I’ve been on social media far too much. It hasn’t been a good few days there. But when you live alone and are trying to process what seems to be the closest you’ve been to civil war in your lifetime you act out in weird ways and scrolling twitter and responding to lies doesn’t seem as caustic to me as many things I could be doing, but that still doesn’t mean it’s healthy and it isn’t making my house any cleaner.

The psalmist is lamenting the wrong they have done and are afraid of what God may have to say or do to them.

In regards to racial relations I know I have benefitted from being a white man from things that have nothing to do with me just a situation I was born into- which have led me to have gone to private schools my entire life, to not have debt, to own my home which has 4 bedrooms- 2 of which I don’t use. I am white privilege in every sense of the word. I try to use what I’ve been given to help others. But I know it’s not enough. I could do more. Much more. And yet I don’t take the time to figure out how best to help the situation. Phil Vischer the veggietales guy and voice of Bob the tomato has quite the tale about how mortgages in the 1930’s allowed him to have the life he has now and how those same opportunities wouldn’t have been there if his family was black-https://www.holypost.com/post/how-racial-injustice-has-benefited-me He explains it much better than I could.

I’ve never been made fun of for my race or my gender. I have been made fun of because I look like everyone else in Portland one of the whitest towns in America and I find that funny. But no there’s things I can’t relate to that many others have to deal with I’ve rarely had to deal with cops. I’ve never had a hard time finding hair care products. I’ve never had to speak on behalf of my race. I’ve never been questioned if I got my job because of my race- though it very well could have been a factor as my church body is the second whitest in America.

So tomorrow well I will post here but I will do my best to stay off the socials for a day if I do- I won’t type but I will listen.

I encourage you to listen on these issues before you speak and listen to people of color but also listen to God in prayer as we ask how might we make the cycle end. How can we be better? How can we bring our nation to a place of peace and not fighting. Amen.