In our worship gathering this past Sunday, we took time to confess our sin and to lament the events that took place in our nation last week. While the time of confession and lament was not recorded, below is a version of what Pastor Robbie shared as an introduction.
"City Church strives to be a racially diverse congregation where blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians all worship together. If you're a minority here today, I acknowledge that you sacrifice a great deal to help us be more like God's Kingdom. For example, you could be at an all black church this morning and know that the person next to you 'gets' you and what it's like to walk in your shoes. You might be wondering even now: 'How can I relate to this tall white guy up on the platform?' That's a good question. I'm not exactly sure. But I can tell you good news. Jesus can relate to you. He was born into poverty, experienced ethnic prejudice, and was killed by a kangaroo court. He was the innocent of the innocents. And he stands with you and enables us to stand with you too.
Some of you are fearful. Fearful that you'll be pulled over due to your skin color; fearful for you children's safety; fearful that you won't make it home to your loved ones. Perhaps you find yourself angry—angry at the world, the city, the educational system, politicians, law enforcement, or people who look different than you.
We need to pause so that we can reflect on the brokenness of this world. Yesterday, Jennifer and I went kayaking. We wanted to go straight, but instead we ended up going in circles. Perhaps it was the current. Perhaps it was because my paddle was way too short. But more likely it was because we were working against each other, paddling in opposite directions. This is a picture of our world. It's broken. Things work against us. Things we use are broken. That's how things are, but we often make matters worse by working against each other.
If you want to see things become right, we first have to start in our own lives. How have I made matters worse? How have I made this world more broken? How have I been complicit with the broken current of this world?
This prayer of confession is just one step, as we own our brokenness before God. I'll lead us in this prayer, and following it, I invite you to pray prayers of confession and lament as well."