Jesus, Ahmaud, race, and grace

(This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, May 17, 2020. The sermon was in response to the Gospel reading — John 14:15–21. You can find the full service at this link — https://youtu.be/rxrf0IjSViI)

I have never worried about going on a run. Ever. I’ve run 11 marathons and 16 halves and numerous other races of various lengths. It’s not the races that I’m talking about though. It’s the multitude of months of training runs — hundreds, if not thousands of runs over my lifetime. I’ve run alone more times than I can count in all sorts of settings — in the neighborhood around my house, in parks, on trails. I’ve run in small rural areas like the Cumberland Valley rail to trail. I’ve run in small urban areas like the greenloop in and around Harrisburg. I’ve run in large metropolitan cities — like NYC, Washington, DC, and Minneapolis.

I’ve had my share of difficult runs that felt like I wouldn’t survive them — mostly because of how I was feeling during the run. But I’ve never worried about being chased. Or shot. But Ahmaud Arbery wasn’t so lucky. We was a black man who decided to go out for a run, minding his own business. He didn’t survive a 2.23 mile run he did in February.

By now you’ve heard the story about how he was chased by two white men who took the law into their own hands and ended up shooting and killing Arbery because they thought he was a suspect in a crime.

Let’s acknowledge something off the bat — talking about race is dangerous, especially in a primarily white congregation…