One of my favorite shows is What Would You Do? The show’s host is John Quiñones. It is a show that sets up hidden cameras while actors play out specific dilemmas, such as social injustices and inequalities while observing what people would do. I often wondered while watching the show, “What would I do?”

“Would I shy away from the situation? What would I want someone to do if these injustices were happening to me?”

We have witnessed the inhumanity, the hatred, and the injustices that have been occurring throughout our country, and we have been mourning and grieving. Racism has been going on in our history for hundreds of years and continues everyday in the present. The question that we need to ask ourselves is, “What would we do” if we witnessed these injustices of racism and discrimination?

God gives us the commandments to do…to commit to action…

 John 13:34-35 (NLT) So now I give you a new commandment: love each another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

Each one of us has something to offer. We cannot sit back and  wait for others to bring about change, but we must be the change. We must be the church. We must speak up for the oppressed and for the wronged. If we have a voice, we must use it. We need to do…we need to commit to action.

Martin Luther King Junior had stated, ““The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

It may be uncomfortable and difficult to speak up and to do, but through our actions, we show that we stand in solidarity with those who are discriminated against; we show that we believe their stories; we show love and hope in a God who is greater than all of these injustices.

God intentionally created man in his own image, which means that we are all equally valuable as stated in Acts 10:34 (NLT) where Peter replies, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism.”

I would like to close with some quotes by Maya Angelou;

“While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God’s creation.”

“The variety of our skin tones can confuse, bemuse, delight, brown and pink and beige and purple, tan and blue and white… I note the obvious differences between each sort and type, but we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

Let’s Pray…Father, continue to bring about healing, reconciliation, social justice and equality. May we support one another and demonstrate our love for one another through our actions. May your justice pour upon us and may your grace and mercy give us hope. May you collect our broken hearts and our tears and use them for the expansion of your kingdom. Lord, be with us. Amen