Bearing Christ's Light After Memphis

“Mom, Mom, Mom!”

Those were the words, Trye Nichols, a 29-year-old motorist yelled as he was being beaten by five cops in Memphis, Tennessee on January 7.  He was coming home after taking pictures of the Memphis sunset. He was pulled over and body and street camera footage shows that Nichols was pulled over and one of the police had his gun drawn as he approached the car.  Nichols was pulled from the car and wrestled to the ground with one cop calling for Nichols to be tasered. They yell threats at him. He responds by saying that he was trying to get home.

He breaks free and tries to flee. This is how the news site the Dispatch reports on what happened next:

In the video, officers appear to direct pepper spray and a taser at Nichols, who broke free and ran. Some officers pursued and detained him at a different intersection—he’d apparently fled to within 100 yards of the home he shared with his mother and stepfather. During the ensuing beating, he shouted for his mother: “Mom! Mom! Mom!”

For about three minutes, officers restrained Nichols, kicking him in the upper body and head, striking him with a baton, and punching him. At one point he stood up, still restrained, but collapsed after more blows. Nichols tried to cover his face as officers repeatedly pepper sprayed him, but in the videos he didn’t appear to strike back.

The police pulled Nichols to a car and propped him up against it with his hands behind him, then stood around joking and discussing the incident. Two fire department medics arrived quickly, but the videos don’t show them providing aid until about 16 minutes had passed—three Memphis Fire Department employees have been fired for their conduct during the incident.

Nichols died in a hospital three days after the beatings. “All my son was trying to do was get home,” Wells said. “He was two minutes from the house when they murdered him.”

Here we are again. Instead of Geroge Floyd and Minneapolis, we have Trye Nichols and Memphis.  Police have again killed a civilian.  The difference this time is that all the people involved were African American.

The events of January 7, 2023 remind us of the problem we have with policing in America.  What happened to Tyre was an obscene abuse of power.  We need our police, contrary to what people tell you.  But we need police that act responsibly and with true justice.

Bob Turner, who is the pastor of White Station Church of Christ in Memphis reflected on the events in Memphis on the Renew.org website.  He believes that we as a nation have two problems, one is a power problem which was so evident in how the police treated Trye.  Bob White quotes Henri Nouwen when he says “What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people.”

The other problem is one of violence.  White says, “The level of brutality used against Tyre Nichols displayed the lowest possible view of human life.”  Those tasked with keeping the peace and keeping us safe should not have the view of their fellow human beings.

In Matthew 5, Jesus tells his disciples and the crowd gathered around him they are to be salt and light in the world.  If they are following Jesus, they carry with them Christ’s light.  Light can show what good is being done in the world and it can also reveal evil taking place. When Jesus tells the disciples and the crowd that they are the light, that you in the plural.  One little light can’t do much, but a lot of light has a way of chasing away the darkness.  

Jesus’ call to the disciples has become a call to the church and to this church. If we are Christians, then you and I carry Christ’s light.  If Christ pointed out what disfavored God, we are called to do that as well.  If God demands justice, then we must do that as well.

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, more should have been done to reform policing and sadly politics got in the way.  If we are called to be light in the world, then the church has to call for better policing in our nation.  As I said before, we need the police, but we need police that are not drunk on power and violence.

I don’t know what kinds of reforms are needed, but no matter who we are must call for our authorities to reflect God’s justice and not excuse their cruelty.

What can our small congregation do?  The problem of police brutality seems like too much for us to handle.  Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens, the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) wrote in a statement that is a time to pray and act. “When people see love in action, they can know that the limitless love of God exists,” she writes. “Prayers mean nothing unless we pray with our feet to build an alternative future.”

The motto of our denomination is that Disciples are a “movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.” As bearers of Christ’s light, how do we live that out?

There is an old saying that we shouldn’t curse the darkness but light a candle.  As Christians, we must let our light shine now more than ever.

I want to close with a prayer that Rev. White included in his article with a small change.  May this be our prayer as well.

We mourn the brutal murder of Tyre Nichols.

His senseless death came through a profound abuse of power.

No parent deserves to watch their child be beaten in such a grotesque way.

We are thankful that justice has been served in some ways, as the officers have been dismissed and charged. But we are also prayerful that justice will be advanced in other ways.

As a nation*, we must commit ourselves to a common morality that places love above hate, unity above division, peace above violence, forgiveness above revenge, submission above power, and generosity above greed. This is the only way forward.

We pray that God gives comfort to Tyre’s family during this awful time.

Amen

Take care dear church. May we bear Christ’s light showing God’s redemptive work in the world. I will see you soon.

*Rev. Turner used the world city in his prayer. I changed it to reflect that this is a national problem in need of prayer as well.