Woke Church by Rev Dr. Eric Mason gives us on-time helpful communication.
There are specific points in his book that I have not found elsewhere. My recommendation is that Americans who call themselves “Christian” read this and prayerfully consider the implications, regardless of if they think could ever be “woke” or ever be part of a “church”. The following are a few of my thoughts in agreement and summaries to help us.
We all have problems in this world. In every challenge, we face there are opportunities for us to find a life of peace and fulfillment. This should include an awareness of who God is and what God is doing. It should also include a deeper awareness of the nature of the pain and suffering experienced by our neighbors.
The Good News of Jesus offers us grace and calls us to love God and care for our neighbors in the same way we take care of ourselves. God is alive, aware, able, and active. So we should be aware of the contrast between our broken world and the implications of God’s truth, willing to acknowledge where we are today, accountable for it and active in solutions.
The Good News of Jesus includes a living God who is at work, “making right what is wrong in the world”. “More than half of the books in the Old Testament speak of (‘righteous’) justice as an attribute of God and a responsibility of His people.” This is linked to God’s desire that all people experience His peace as a “universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight”.
Jesus has changed my life. As I take the next steps in following Jesus I have found this to be true: “As incarnational missionaries, our mission flows from the mission of the gospel of practicing peace. As the church, we are called to be peace practitioners”. I am “supposed to be opening up my life so God can give me common ground with people who are not like me”.
The love of Jesus motivates me to walk away from selfishness toward compassion for others. This should include learning about the life challenges of my neighbors. In this way, I have learned about the brokenness other people are experiencing. Some may be similar to my own. Some of their pain may be unique from my own. The love of Jesus motivates me (should motivate anyone who calls themselves a Christian) to learn about their pain so that I can best be a part of the solution.
This should include lament (entering into the experience of brokenness and being honest about it). “When the realities of a fallen world hit us, we need room to worship the Lord in honest expressions of unedited grief.” Rev Dr. Mason and Soong-Chan Rah have done helpful work that all current American Christians should read on this subject. Here Eric Mason gives us specific points to consider worthy of lament. They include the facts (among others) that the “Black Church Had to Be Created, Evangelicals’ Dismissal of the Black Church, That Justice Is Not Seen as a Primary Doctrine, and That the Church Didn’t Create and Lead the Black Lives Matter Movement”. What timely communication for us to consider!
“When Christians spend time arguing about what’s going on in the public square and not engaging it, we miss redemptive opportunities.” Here we read specific suggestions relevant to each of us.
Further, Rev Dr. Mason’s call for “prophetic preaching” and how he defines it are a right-on-time must-read for young Jesus-followers yearning for something better and for mature believers who now have an opportunity to speak! It “is the act of the covenant community of Jesus boldly calling all people through the gospel and Word of God back to what it looks like to reflect God’s intention for all things.” It “reflects God’s heart,” with the “big picture” and carries “street-level impact”. We should be “biblically soaked and culturally informed”. We must be “centered on Jesus, clear on the issues, providing visionary hope, and offer clear statements of action”.
Our world can be better. We must think beyond our personal limitations, considering what positive change may be possible as we work together, following God’s guidance, and take action in God’s grace and peace. This should include specific “big picture” church training, activities, and partnerships. All of this should be done with a clear picture, “seeing through the lens of the end”. “We need to have a biblical worldview on all that is happening today, with an eye always on our glorious future.”
Pastor Ben Malmin 