“The kind of biases we see in stop, search, arrest, conviction and sentencing rates simply can’t be adequately explained or addressed with a general appeal to sin. It needs specific redress lest our theology becomes a form of escapism…”

It has been hard for me to put into words why I have struggled with settling the central dispute in Ferguson in my own mind by saying simply, “It’s a sin problem”. The church does not shy away from many other systemic sin problems, and I think the issue of justice-or systemic racial and “class” bias in the justice system- is also worthy of discussing and addressing head-on, so that we can better understand parts of the whole, and tackle tough issues that are easily and often overlooked or ignored in our country. I appreciate that in all the dialogue that has taken place in the past week, I’ve seen Christians and Christian leaders, in particular, truly care and try to understand and acknowledge this festering issue. And, I think that Thabiti Anyabwile does well here in explaining why the gospel should not be used as a way to escape the reality of systemic bias in our country. He does this by linking several related issues/themes and acknowledging that they definitely should continue to be addressed, but not used to deny the validity of concerns about injustice. I don’t think that every believer will be led or equipped to lead in fighting every systemic sin (I know I’m not), but I do think that these problems should at least be acknowledged and not denied.

Another reason why I think Ferguson is worth discussing is that the issue of systemic sin also has implications for reconciliation within the church-a topic that has been on my heart the past year or so-and I believe that these discussions can be a catalyst for increased unity within the body. The discussions I’ve read this past week about the Ferguson grand jury decision and the events surrounding it reveal deep racial divisions, particularly among brothers and sisters in Christ, that need to be addressed and reconciled. I like what Anyabwile says about walking through and not around the problems we face. Walking around them is definitely more comfortable, but when we walk through them together-because of and in light of the Gospel-we have a better chance of understanding and breaking them down. We have to face these issues and let ourselves be healed. Healing leads to reconciliation. Denial and escapism may allow us to carry on, but they “shut up” the problem, allowing the wounds to fester and continue to be a barrier when it comes to both sharing the gospel and reconciling believers (which is part of the fullness of the gospel, because it is God’s will for the body of Christ).

I pray for the churches in the Ferguson/St. Louis area-that as they work through all that has happened in the past few months, they would find true reconciliation and that we would be able to learn from them.