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As we write this lesson at midweek, the Missouri town of Ferguson is still the scene of nightly protests in the streets, some of which include lawless behavior, triggered by the fatal shooting on August 9 of an unarmed black man, Michael Brown, 18, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, 28. Brown was shot at least six times; Wilson suffered an orbital blowout fracture to his face.
One of the difficulties in talking about this situation is the absence of undisputed facts and the rush to judgment that is outrunning a full investigation of the shooting.
Wikipedia's report of the incident (accessed August 19) stated the following:
"Brown was unarmed and had no criminal record. According to Ferguson police, Brown was a suspect in a robbery allegedly committed minutes before the shooting, although the initial contact between Wilson and Brown was unrelated to the alleged robbery. Wilson had served four years with the Ferguson Police Department after serving two years with another local police department. He had no disciplinary history."
Wikipedia, citing The Washington Post, further said that the "shooting of a black male by a white police officer sparked unrest in Ferguson due to longstanding racial tensions in a region that is 'among the most segregated metropolitan areas in the nation.'"
According to the general-interest news site Vox, there are currently nine undisputed facts about the situation in Ferguson related to the shooting of Brown. We have summarized and expanded a bit the Vox headings here, but we encourage you to read the full article, included in the links list below. The nine are as follows:
1) Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown on Saturday, August 9.
2) Ferguson is a majority-black city with an overwhelmingly white police force and city government.
3) Eyewitnesses have given contradictory accounts of the incident, some of which contradict police accounts of the shooting.
4) Several different law enforcement agencies are involved in the response to the shooting and the protests.
5) The police have to date not released the autopsy report or any information about their investigation of what happened during the shooting.
6) Protests began immediately after Brown's death, and continued throughout the week.
7) The protests were at times met with an aggressive police response.
8) The police released video of Brown apparently strong-arm robbing a convenience store; Wilson did not connect Brown to the robbery until after he had stopped him for walking down the center of a street.
9) The federal government is also investigating Brown's death.
Last Sunday, prayers in two Ferguson area churches made the news. One is Southminster Presbyterian, a largely white congregation located just behind the suburban home of Officer Darren Wilson. The other is Greater St. Mark Family Church, a largely black congregation. The Washington Post article that reported the prayers made it sound as if Southminster offered prayers only for Wilson while St. Mark offered prayers only for the Brown family. We suspect that report was overdrawn for the sake of contrast, but the article did highlight the differing concerns of the two congregations.
Perhaps an NPR article on Sunday services in the Ferguson area was more on target when it reported that "sermons at both black and white congregations sounded similar messages -- calling for the tough community conversations that haven't happened yet."
Speaking for more than himself, Mike Trautman, pastor of the overwhelmingly white First Presbyterian Church of Ferguson, said, "I am hoping that out of this we can renew the dialogue [about the underlying racism in the community]. But we have to have a different dialogue. We have to learn to talk to one another a little differently."
More on this story can be found at these links:
9 Essential Facts about Ferguson and the Shooting of Michael Brown. Vox
Shooting of Michael Brown. Wikipedia 
Two Churches in Missouri Are Filled With Faith, but Common Ground Remains Elusive. Washington Post
In Ferguson, Local Faith Leaders Call For 'Different Dialogue.' NPR 
Ferguson Cop Who Walked Middle of Road Finds Critics Coming Both Ways. The Guardian
The Big Questions
1. Does the experience of growing up of one race automatically equip a person to understand the perspectives of those who have grown up as part of a different race? Does it automatically disqualify a person from understanding and empathizing with those of other races? Can a person guarantee that his or her interpretations of experiences are objectively correct? How much do you think your own race affects how you answer a question like this?
2. What might it mean, in a Christian context, to learn to talk across racial divides "a little differently"?
3. In what ways does the "racism" label interfere with healthy human interaction? In what ways does it identify unhelpful attitudes and actions? What would be a better word or label that would make people more comfortable talking about these matters? What guidance do you find in the Bible this?
4. To what extent do you think the turmoil in Ferguson is an outgrowth of frustration caused by real racial discrimination? To what extent do you think the turmoil is exacerbated by people using the occasion for other purposes? Explain your answers.
5. In "angry times," do Christians have a greater responsibility than the population at large to not contribute to the uproar with confrontational opinions? Why or why not? What is the role of the church at such times?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Job 6:20
They are disappointed because they were confident; they come there and are confounded. (For context, read 6:14-21.)
This is from one of suffering Job's responses to his friends who have insisted he must have done wrong to have had great calamity fall upon him. In verses 14-21, Job is telling them that they have been of no comfort to him. In fact, in verses 15-17, he compares his friends to a wadi, a streambed that is often dry but which, in times of storm, can become a raging torrent. A wadi has abundant water exactly when water is not needed and no water when water could be lifesaving.
Thus in verse 20, quoted above, Job likens himself to a thirsty caravaneer who arrived at such a streambed confident of finding water (i.e., comfort from his friends), only to be "disappointed" and "confounded." (Those are two words the Bible uses to denote human frustration.)
Questions: Might frustration describe your emotion if you'd been told conditions for and acceptance of your family or group would eventually improve, but such improvements have not happened? What might such frustration cause you to do in the face of apparent injustice against a member of your family or group? Would such actions be just?
Job's biggest concern is that he is not being heard, either by his friends or by the heavenly court. He does not believe there can be justice in his case. Where does your frustration go when you run into a brick wall due to red tape, injustice or false charges?
Genesis 4:9
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" (For context, read 4:1-16.)

This is part of the dialog between God and Cain after Cain, in anger, had killed his brother Abel. God's question to Cain implies that humans have a responsibility for one another. Cain lied in his reply, saying he did not know where Abel was, and then tried to evade responsibility with the flippant rhetorical question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" But God wasn't talking to him because Cain was his brother's keeper (guardian or warden) who had failed on the job; God was talking to him because Cain was his brother's murderer. Even so, the biblical witness is that we are to help and befriend others, and in popular usage, this has come to be called "being your brother's keeper." So in that sense, the biblical answer to Cain's question is "Yes, you are."
It's possible, of course, that if God were to ask us where our brother or sister -- who is of a different ethnic group from us -- is, we might, unlike Cain, be telling the truth if we answered, "I don't know." We might be in real ignorance of the difficulties and obstacles that person is facing. But even if that is the case, we cannot be true to our faith if we go on to say that we are not our brother or sister's keeper.
Questions: How should we practice/live out in our own community the biblical principle that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers? Is there a time when people stop being your brother or sister and when you cease to be their keeper? Are the people in Ferguson your sisters and brothers? Does their plight have anything to do with you?
John 8:48
The Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" (For context, read 8:31-48.)
"Jews" in the verse above actually refers not to Jews in general who, on the whole, accepted Jesus, but to a small group of Jews who had originally accepted him but then changed their minds (see v. 31). Verses 31-48 and following detail a conversation between this small group and Jesus. After Jesus points out that this group is not acting like the descendants of Abraham should, they accuse him of being a Samaritan and thus being demon-possessed.
The Samaritans were a group with some Jewish blood but also a mixed-race ancestry who worshiped God, but not in exactly the same way the "real" Jews did. Thus, in Jesus' day, many Jews thought of Samaritans as second-class people or worse. The statement against Jesus quoted above shows the depth of the racism in the society of that day. The assumption is that if Jesus were a Samaritan, then he would have to have a demon because, in the biased thinking of that day, all Samaritans were lumped together as demon-possessed. It was no different from saying today that a black person must be lazy because all blacks are lazy or that a Jewish person today must be greedy because all Jews are greedy or that a white person must have succeeded because all whites are privileged.
Questions: What incidents in your life have forced you to consider whether you were stereotyping others? Have you ever decided that you were? If so, did you make any changes in your actions?
Luke 6:31
Do to others as you would have them do to you. (For context, read 6:27-36.)

This, of course, is the "Golden Rule," and all the world's major religions have some equivalent of it.
We have quoted the Golden Rule from Luke's gospel, but Matthew's gospel also quotes this little one-sentence sermon (7:12). In Matthew, Jesus designates it as a summary of "the law and the prophets," that is, of the Old Testament itself. In other words, this mandate about correct behavior is from God, not from human beings.
But in Luke, Jesus ties this "rule" to the string of insults and injustices the obedient may be forced to suffer. Jesus suggests that our behavior should be governed according to God's principles -- not the retaliatory, revengeful, let's-pay-them-back instincts of human beings. In other words, this single sentence is a statement of Christian ethics. Simply put, it advises us to treat others the way we'd like to be treated.
Questions: In what specific ways do we practice the Golden Rule in our common life as Americans? Where in our common life do we need to apply it more faithfully? What limits do you put on the Golden Rule? Do folks at the food pantry in our churches get extra stuff on occasion or only what they "deserve"? What are the limits to the Golden Rule when it comes to cash we may or may not give out to church members or strangers in need?
Romans 2:11
For God shows no partiality. (For context, read 2:1-11.)
Paul, the writer of this verse, was making a profound statement to his own people, who, because of their religious heritage, thought they were more protected from God's judgment than the Gentiles. But Paul here argues that not only are they not more protected if they do wrong; neither are they more entitled if they do right. Both the judgment and the blessings of God are for all, depending on their faith and works, without distinction, because God shows no partiality.
Questions: Does this mean that to be godly, we, too, need to show no partiality? Explain your answer. Paul is writing to a church in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-national setting. What is your situation as a congregation? Are you homogenous? Do you possess a fair amount of diversity? What is your definition of partiality? What distinctions are helpful to make?
For Further Discussion
1. Respond to this, from TWW team member Maria Green, telling about her reaction to the Ferguson shooting and others like it: "As a mother, I worry about my son, even though we live in a 'nice' hamlet outside of the Beltway. Police officers looking for an African American male will see my son's color. They won't know or care that he is a peace-loving 22-year-old, with Asperger's and a genius-level IQ, has never thought about committing a crime, has a strong sense of right and wrong and is an art student. If he is in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time (anyplace and anytime), an officer could shoot him as he reaches in his pocket to get his ID."
2. To what extent are you "tired" of stories involving questions of race? Do you believe these stories no longer have merit? Do you find race to be a major factor in American society, whether or not it is acknowledged in all sectors?
3. What has your church or community done to create credible credentials to be able to work across racial lines to instigate dialog and create solutions? Who in your congregation or denomination might have the most to offer in a situation like Ferguson?
Responding to the News
This is a time to work doubly hard to put ourselves in the shoes of people whose experience of life in America is very different from our own.
Regarding the Ferguson story, we should not let ourselves get sidetracked by the rioting and looting following the shooting of Michael Brown. The rioting, looting and related violence are wrong -- and much of it, according to news reports, was the work of outsiders who came into Ferguson -- but those actions are peripheral to the central facts in this story: An unarmed (which does not necessarily mean harmless) black man was shot to death by a police officer who claims he feared for his safety. One man is dead, the life of a police officer with an unblemished record has been indelibly changed, and the families and communities are suffering.
Closing Prayer

Open our eyes, Lord, that we may see our neighbors as you see them. In Jesus' name. Amen.