Never confuse substantive repentance with symbolic repentance. When Jesus confronted the woman caught in adultery, he didn't
shame her with her past sins. He told her to leave her life of sin. There is a difference.
Recently, my denomination resolved not to wave the Confederate battle flag in the faces of those who are grieved by what it stood for in the past.
It is always a good thing to remove a stumbling block from the path of the good news of Jesus Christ. Still, lowering a flag and loving your neighbor are not one and the same thing.
It remains to be seen if this unbinding resolution will result in the ties that bind, in the local church. I pray it does.
History teaches me, substance is more difficult to produce than symbolism. Does anyone remember the SBC boycott of Disney?
The fact remains. Much of the church growth in my denomination over the last 50 years has been a result of white flight to the suburbs.
Abandoning transitional neighborhoods, in search of greener pastures and fields white unto harvest has been a persistent church growth strategy for years.
Lowering a battle flag from the past, to avoid the appearance of racism in the present, will not symbolize an act of repentance unless churches stop racing to the suburbs. This "race" issue is not changed by lowering a flag, but by turning around.
Lower the old flag of the past, if you must, but plant a new one in the inner city.
Symbolic gestures over past shameful behavior is not repentance. Repentance is marked by a turnaround expressed by a change of mind, a change of heart, and a change of direction.
Pray for a real turnaround in our denomination and our nation. Jesus doesn't shame us with our past. He forgives it, and gives us a new life.
TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
"From now on, sin no more."
Jesus (John 8:11)