“Break my heart for what breaks yours…”

A response to Black Lives Matter

As we sing that line from one of our rousing songs at St Nicholas, we know that God’s heart is broken by the scenes of the killing of innocent Black people at the hands of law enforcement officers around the world, and especially in the United States in recent times.  Our hearts should also break for the pervasive evils of racism in our own society.  This sin is not primarily a personal prejudice, but is rather a social corruption that pervades our institutions: our police forces and courts, our councils, our schools and colleges, and our churches. 

The people of St Nicholas lament the sufferings of our Black sisters and brothers; we repent the legacies of privilege and prejudice and the racist assumptions and attitudes that lurk around and within; we commit to action that seeks to eradicate the evils of racism in our world and brings justice to all. 

God’s heart of love and justice embraces all of humanity, but when a particular group is neglected and suffering more than others, be they widows or orphans or people of African descent, then he champions them.  At this time of racist oppression, God’s heart and the hearts of St Nicholas’ church cry ‘Black Lives Matter’.