ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
February 15, 2022
Frederick Douglass was a former slave who, upon escaping (which of course was breaking the law), would become one of the great speakers and writers in the anti-slavery movement. Douglass was willing to have conversations with the pro-slavery folks, including slave owners. This was not well received by the radical abolitionists. I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around what it must have been like to have a conversation or even sit across the table from someone who believed I (putting myself in Douglass’s shoes) could be owned. I’m not a person to say I hate someone or to feel a desire to bring violence against another human being, but I don’t know if my ideals would have easily been accessible to me in that moment. Frederick Douglass wrote, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” I’ve known the quote for many years, but I can’t say I’ve ever thought of it in terms of the internal struggle one must have fought to sit down and converse with the very people who had enslaved you and your friends, and were trying to solidify slavery’s existence into the future. Jesus invited his disciples (that includes any of us today who claim to be followers of Jesus) to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. For many of us who have known a pretty good life, the enemy or source of persecution is the guy who cut us off in traffic or the neighbor whose dog continues to do its business in our yard. We have not a clue what it was like for Douglass. Are we willing to struggle for the sake of progress? How many of us are complaining about certain struggles, yet our issues are embarrassingly petty as compared to what Douglass faced.
Creator God, continue to guide my life and my way of living in the direction of holy progress. Wherever I need to struggle with my discomfort or uneasiness, I request the assistance of your grace-filled Spirit. When suffering or injustice exists, the status quo is unacceptable. Lead me to personal breakthroughs for the sake of true transformation. Amen.
