June 5, 2020

To the congregation of Grace Toronto:

We are presently going through a profound moment in our culture, where the events of the last week or so have forced us to confront the depths of sin in our hearts, and the spread of sin in our culture.

Last Sunday, many of you were looking for a response from us about the death of George Floyd and the implications of that moment. That did not happen, for reasons that made sense at the time.  But silence is a kind of statement as well, and so we want to say this about the death of George Floyd, and many before him, and what these events have revealed.

Here is a statement from the elders of Grace Toronto:

STATEMENT OF RESPONSE TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE FLOYD & OTHERS

We recognize that all human beings, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, skin colour, abilities, health or any other characteristic, are made in the image of God,[1] and therefore, there is no basis for believing any human, made in the image of God, is anything other than equal in status and dignity,  to every other human being.

We lament that all humans are sinful[2] and capable of the sin of racism, and that our hearts are deceitful[3] beyond measure, so that we often do not see the sin that resides in us, and around us. We realize that it may lie undiscovered in our hearts for years, even decades, and commit to rooting it out, by sitting with the oppressed, learning from them and God,  and then standing against oppression.

We rejoice that God has always been relentlessly against sin.  He made us without sin - including the sin of racism. He sent His Son to die for our sins, showing His displeasure on the sin of racism among many others, and the need to be free from it. He sent His Spirit into us to help free us, more and more, from racism and all other sin.  God is ruthlessly committed to establishing justice and ending racism. We pray to be as relentlessly against the sin of racism, as is our God.

God  also and especially  holds His people accountable, for particular sins and idols at particular moments in history, and calls them out specifically.[4] When He comes again, He will remove all sin from the presence of his people.

We recognize the complexities of racism as it affects different people, and peoples, in varying ways, and that there are many different ethnic expressions in  our church who have experienced racism in a variety of ways, making the issue of racism complex. Yet we still call out the specific sin of racism against black people, in our nation and others, as simply evil and wrong.

We cry out to the God of peace and justice, asking together with the psalmist: How long, O Lord? Let your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

And yet we cry out in  hope because  Jesus, the Prince of Peace, who  suffered and died at the hands of state-sanctioned violence[5], has in His death conquered evil and death itself. One day, every sin will be no more, because He took our sin upon Himself and bore it on the Cross. We gratefully receive His forgiveness, and vow to be His people who obey His command to love our neighbours as ourselves.  We understand that racism has no part in love, and hereby denounce it as antithetical to the gospel of love. We need His peace, and power, to love as He loved.

In that peace, and in that power, we  commit ourselves to the furthering of Christ’s kingdom here on earth, and becoming more like Him in word and deed for the glory of His name, the justice of all people, and the blessing of all nations.

[1] Genesis 1: 26-7

[2] Romans 3:23

[3] Jeremiah 17:9

[4] Some examples:   Molech & Baal worship (Lev. 18:21; 1 Kings 18); Paul confronting Peter on refusing to dine with Gentiles (Galatians 2); God calling Israel to refuse alliances with Assyria and Egypt (Isaiah 7; 30) Jesus confronting Pharisees on love of public acclaim (Matthew 6); God confronting Ephesian church on losing their first love  (Rev. 2). The Bible is filled with particular judgments against specific, contextual sins in particular periods - against individuals, classes of people (eg churches, priests, scribes, Pharisees), and nations. Therefore, His church is following Him in calling out sin.

[5] We have with appreciation, borrowed this phrase from the May 27, 2020 statement of  our sister churches at Redeemer NYC here, and are grateful for their eloquent statement on the present crisis.