The Cruciform Communion of the Slain Lamb: A Collaboration
I. “And I began to weep bitterly…”
“And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it” (Rev. 5:4). At first glance, these words appear to represent a nihilistic sort of hopelessness that would make Nietzsche proud. And perhaps there is some truth to this; though of course this depends upon what one means by hope. For if hope is one contingent upon the efficacy of oneself or one’s group for that which is hoped for to come into being, then of course we are right to see this passage as one of utter hopelessness. For no one was found worthy to open the scroll. But, if hope appears as nonhope, that is, as a renunciation of faith …show more content…
But this comes as no surprise, for one of the great lies that whiteness deludes us into believing is that the tenets undergirding a white world are innately and unquestionably good, that the kind of world whiteness is attempting to create is wholly in line with the kingdom of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is this delusion that empowers us to yell “All Lives Matter” at the very moment our black and brown siblings find themselves in mourning, disturbed by the emergence of yet another hashtag memorializing the existence of yet another human being who did not deserve to die, their life cut short by a system that sees diversity and difference as a threat to the kingdom they are tasked to maintain. “All Lives Matter” does not allow for these cries to be heard, for to truly hear these cries would call into question the very legitimacy of the phrase coming out from our lips. For if all lives really do matter, why is it that the only tears we give weight to are the tears of white fragility—where getting called racist is seen as more of a plight warranting sympathy than the plight of actual people brutalized by racism’s insidious
I. “And I began to weep bitterly…”
“And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it” (Rev. 5:4). At first glance, these words appear to represent a nihilistic sort of hopelessness that would make Nietzsche proud. And perhaps there is some truth to this; though of course this depends upon what one means by hope. For if hope is one contingent upon the efficacy of oneself or one’s group for that which is hoped for to come into being, then of course we are right to see this passage as one of utter hopelessness. For no one was found worthy to open the scroll. But, if hope appears as nonhope, that is, as a renunciation of faith …show more content…
But this comes as no surprise, for one of the great lies that whiteness deludes us into believing is that the tenets undergirding a white world are innately and unquestionably good, that the kind of world whiteness is attempting to create is wholly in line with the kingdom of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is this delusion that empowers us to yell “All Lives Matter” at the very moment our black and brown siblings find themselves in mourning, disturbed by the emergence of yet another hashtag memorializing the existence of yet another human being who did not deserve to die, their life cut short by a system that sees diversity and difference as a threat to the kingdom they are tasked to maintain. “All Lives Matter” does not allow for these cries to be heard, for to truly hear these cries would call into question the very legitimacy of the phrase coming out from our lips. For if all lives really do matter, why is it that the only tears we give weight to are the tears of white fragility—where getting called racist is seen as more of a plight warranting sympathy than the plight of actual people brutalized by racism’s insidious