The death of George Floyd has brought about tension, protests and upheaval in an already volatile period in our nation. In these times, we must take every thought captive and search the Scriptures for discernment, wisdom and guidance.

Walter Strickland, associate vice president for diversity and assistant professor of systematic and contextual theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, laments these horrific tragedies and offers theological insights about how communities respond to racism, and its implications for conversations about racial reconciliation. In this podcast, Strickland covers the recent events and provides timely and biblical counsel.

Here is an excerpt from this podcast:

“There’s a lot to be talked about here. We have systemic issues going on. We have the continuation of America’s racially turbulent narrative. We have the abuse of power. We have conscious and unconscious bias. We have cultural normativity, people would argue even the reality of white supremacy, and others would say there is stereotyping, racial profiling, etc., etc., etc.

“But, the conversation that we like to have is what do these things have to do with the racial reconciliation conversation. And I know that there’s a lot to be critiqued about the state of racial reconciliation, especially in the evangelical movement. But what we want to do is set our sights on one thing. And in particular it’s the fact that many Christians operate as if being part of God’s multicultural family absolves them from dealing with the present reality of racism both in us and outside of us.”

Editor’s Note: “From the Lectern” is the official podcast of the Kingdom Diversity Initiative at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Kingdom Diversity Initiative seeks to equip students from every corner of the kingdom to serve in every context of the kingdom.