09/07/2023
A.J. Laguerre
Angela Michelle Carr
Jerrald Gallion
Christ Community grieves the murders of these three on August 26th in Jacksonville, FL.
Moreover, we lament the degradation of the very image of God in the act itself and the racial hatred which was the motivation of the murderer, according to his own father.
Further, we mourn together that the state of our current culture is such that so heinous an act seems only to pique the interest of media and society for a moment, due to the ubiquitous devaluation of human life throughout our history, when acknowledgement of the divinely instituted dignity and sanctity of life is deemed inconvenient, which has so often been the case for those with dark skin, or those unable to speak for themselves.
We commit not merely to lamentation but to leveraging our voices, the work of our hands, and the influence of our relationships, individually and collectively, to bring restoration in this very broken sphere of life together in a fallen world.
We believe that this is what it means to live in light of the gospel of Christ Jesus, who gave his life to tear down the wall of hostility between God and man and therefore the false divisions between people such as race or ethnicity, as Ephesians 2 teaches.
This is the beautiful reality of Jesus which all his people are called to apply to their lives and the contexts in which they find themselves. Therefore, we also exhort all who claim to follow Christ to utilize the gifts the Lord has given to advocate and work for the dignity and restoration of vulnerable people, without pitting one cause against another. May God be glorified as we walk by faith in what he has given us to do.
