To help us white folks “get it” with respect to some of the racial tension, please see what my long-time friend Clarence Shuler has to say:

Clarence is a nationally known, well-received, Bible-based speaker who does marriage retreats as well as racial reconciliation conferences. Here’s some of what he wrote recently:

Pastor Andy Stanley did an outstanding job of discussing the racial tension in America. I’m so Blessed by Andy and other pastors, who have the courage and wisdom to pause their regular sermon series to discuss in detail the racial tension in America as it really is and what our biblical response should be. Andy challenges Christians to take action. Here’s the link to God’s incredible word through one of His servants. – Clarence Shuler, July 2020

I recommend you listen to Andy’s sermon in its entirety – it’s less than 30 minutes. Here are a few of my takeaways. Again, I recommend you listen to the sermon.

• Facts aren’t fair, facts don’t care. No change has occurred by citing facts. e.g., most white people are afraid of black men. It’s not fair. Most black people are afraid of police. However, the difference is, most white people’s fear of black men is NOT based on personal experience, while black people have personal experience with being stopped by police, often for no reason, as I’ve written about before.
• Facts don’t move us forward; experience does.
• Preaching this subject is easy if you are in an extreme left or an extreme right church. But very little gets done from the extremes. It’s the messy middle where things have to be worked out.
• How do people who don’t look like me perceive me? How SHOULD people who don’t look like me perceive me?
• Jesus calls us to a new standard: love one another as I have loved you. And his followers were very diverse. E.g., Simon the zealot and Matthew the tax collector. Love requires bearing each other’s burdens. Galatians 6:2: Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
• Proximity does not equal friendship. Do I have black friends? 
• It’s not enough to be non-racist; we must be anti-racist.

Here is a bit more of Clarence Shuler’s perspective. Remember, he lives it day in, day out:

Andy Stanley suggests standing in the pain of someone before offering to do anything. 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.” If we don’t take the time to try to understand a wounded person or group of people, then, how can we reflect the love of God to an individual or a group? 

Sadly, some pastors are promoting their political views, with no grace, and in the process are demeaning certain cultures and races. Some are blaming everything on the depravity of man, which is an easy way not to deal with the messy, but biblical issue of injustice. These pastors may be impeding Christ-followers from imitating Jesus in regards to responding to injustice (Proverbs 31:8-9 & Luke 4:18). Godly leaders must address injustice. God does in the Old and New Testament. – Clarence Shuler, July 2020

Clarence also sent a link to an 11-minute video of black believers talking about their experiences and making recommendations. I found it to be a good application of Andy Stanley’s suggestion to “stand in the pain of someone…”

After I listened to Andy’s sermon, I was reviewing some scripture and this one seemed to reinforce some of what Andy said:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of … love… (2 Timothy 1.7)