I guess it’s safe to say we live in some racially charged times being fresh off of the heels of a white supremest rally in Charlottesville, VA. Not to mention the constant racial insensitivity that is shown by our president. Along with the recent rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Racially charged might be an understatement. This is definitely a critical time in our nation’s history.
An interesting story came on the news this week. A catholic priest by the name of Father William Aitcheson in Fairfax, VA (because of the recent incident in Charlottesville, VA) decided to come out about his past. He wrote an editorial confessing that he used to be a member of the KKK and apologizing for the vandalism he committed against a family at that time. Also, he chose to step down temporarily from public ministry for the sake of the church and its members.
He also asked that the members of these white supremest groups find authentic peace and mercy that is only found in Jesus Christ. The Butler family, whom he vandalized, are still suspicious of his motives and have denied his request to meet in order to apologize for his transgressions.
Interesting, that while the Butler family seeks retribution, they deny Aitcheson’s attempts to personally reconcile the situation. I personally don’t think he needed to step down from ministry for the simple fact that these things happened 40 years ago. I commend his efforts to address the situation. I’m glad that it seems he has a genuine understanding of how to love people that he learned from the teachings of Christ.
Also, I don’t think he needed to step down because this could be a good time to share his testimony of what Jesus Christ does when He changes the heart of a man from darkness to light. Salvation is Jesus coming in and turning the lights in our dark hearts. Then He goes to work cleaning all of the junk out of our hearts.
In the church, we have people from all kinds of backgrounds, with all kinds of issues, dealing with all kinds of sins. The church is literally a hospital for our sin sickness. Some come in for a check up, some need surgery and others are in ICU. All needing medication from the same savior. Jesus is the surgeon. We are his nurses administering the medication He has prescribed. Some may be sicker than others. Some heal faster than others, but we all need God’s medicine.
That leads us to our Throwback Song of the Week. It’s from a CHH legend. Phanatik of the legendary Cross Movement. The song is entitled “In Here” and it is from his first solo release in 2004 entitled “The Incredible Walk“. The song encourages us that there’s all types of people in the church, but no matter who you are we were all brought from darkness into God’s marvelous light. Tune into the Trackstarz show this week to hear DJ Jeremaya spin this for the Throwback Song of the Week or check the link below. Let us know what you think. Until next time…
Peace and blessings.
