Today, I awoke with a deep sense of mourning. I was mourning over what is happening in Canada. The Prime Minister has enacted the Emergencies Act against the protesting truckers and anyone who dares to support them. Under the Emergencies Act, trucker’s insurance has been canceled. Funds set aside in online funding accounts to support the truckers has been hijacked by the government. The Canadian government has been given authority similar to what takes place when a nation is at war. The Emergencies Acts had never been activated since its inception. Something deeper is at work, deeper than our individual opinions on whether we consider the protests in Canada valid or not.
I mourn over many in the American Church who have no idea of what is taking place just across our border. I mourn because so many have been taught that their faith should never enter the public square and have a voice, especially a voice of protest. I mourn because we cannot see the danger of restricting and punishing opposing opinions even if the opinions we defend are not ones we share. Our own civil rights movement in America, a movement led primarily by pastors, is similar in many ways to what is taking place, not only in Canada but currently in nations around the globe. The subject of the protest of the civil rights movement in America and what is happening now in Canada are different, but the essence of a shared freedom of expression and protest are the same.
Throughout history, the restrictions brought against freedom of expression and righteous protest have become the very ground where freedom was established. Truth will always win out when authoritarian control is exerted because freedom has greater power than any form of governmental control.
My mourning today is a mixture. Part of it is my own fatigue at the never-ending onslaught of pain of suffering I see taking place in our world. Another part of my mourning is from the Spirit who is grieved by what is happening. My mourning has led me to a place of prayer and a deeper trust in God even when I cannot see the outcome from a human perspective. Defining the difference between those two kinds of mourning makes all the difference when it comes to maintaining our spiritual, emotional, and mental health.
When Jesus rose from the dead, He released an army of resurrectionists who have been used by Him to overcome evil in all forms for the last 2,000 years. A resurrectionist has greater authority than an insurrectionist because the goal of a resurrectionist is always redemption. Only the hope of redemption has the ability to overcome our mourning.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins
Featured Image by Joshua Woroniecki from Pixabay
