Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch and in today's episode, we're asking the question, can I mourn, apolitically? This is prompted by an article I read in the New York Times about the tragic story of Alex Predy, who was fatally wounded by ICE officers in Minneapolis St. Paul recently. Now, listen, I have not commented a lot on what's happening in Minnesota, and to be honest, that's because the news is changing so quickly. you know, in each instance of violence, it feels like every five minutes we know something we didn't know. And so it's tough to. To really cover a story from a gospel perspective without knowing for sure if it's a story about police brutality or a story of agitation. And to be honest with you, it's really hard to find anyone who just wants to get to the truth. almost every news source is just trumpeting the talking points of the political ideology that it comes from. And maybe the most tragic case of that is the death of Alex Predy. Because the story is complicated. Alex Predy was an ICU nurse who served at a VA hospital. Pretty noble profession. Well liked by his colleagues, known for having an incredible heart of service, like kind of the last person you would ever expect for police to kill in the performance of their duties. On the other hand, Alex Predy was a gun owner who inexplicably brought a gun when going to agitate, confront, deal with ICE agents in his area, when any logical person would understand that bringing a gun and to that situation, at minimum, increases the likelihood. Then again, Pre wasn't holding the gun when he was shot. He was holding a cell phone. On the other hand, if the police saw the gun, they must have felt in danger. You get the point. It's complicated. But what I find my primary takeaway in this story to be is that we don't really mourn anymore. I mean, as a society, we mourn when it suits us. So, for example, conservatives will spend most of their time in half, unfortunately, tearing down Preeti, finding anything in his life to label him a domestic terrorist or a member of Antifa. Despite the fact that this guy checks a lot of conservative boxes. He lives a life of service. He serves veterans. He was a gun owner. These are supposedly conservative values. On the other hand, liberals will trumpet his sacrifice, calling him a martyr, valuing his life, but. But we all know they're only doing it because it serves their point. I just want somebody who can say, hey, hold on a second. Before we get into who's right and who's wrong and which political party is going to lead us out of this, a guy is dead, tragically. And that's awful. I can't help but hear the words of Amos 5, 23 and 24, where the Prophet Amos says, take thou away from me the noise of their songs, but let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as mighty stream. What Amos is saying, I think, is what I'm trying to say, which is I'm tired of the noise. I'm tired of the political parties trying to jump in my ear the minute something happens and to tell me how to think about it. Actually, at first, I don't even want to think about it. I want to grieve about it. I want my heart to be broken by it. I want to grieve not just that we live in a world where a man was fatally killed. I want to grieve the fact that our response to that was political. And listen, if that was your response, part of me wants to say, shame on you. As Christians, this is an image bearer who was tragically killed. Our hearts should be broken. But the truth is, you're a product of the culture you live in. And that's why, I guess the last Bible verse I'll leave you with is Paul in Romans 12, who said, don't be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Listen, we observe everything anymore through political eyes. It instantly gets filtered. Our, reflex is so quick we don't even notice it anymore. We see a news story about a man's death and we go find our talking points and we jump on social media and we instantly enter the fray. We have to be transformed. Our hearts have to become soft again so that Christians are out there going, look, stop yelling at each other long enough to mourn a man, a brother, a son, a servant who is dead. However we got here, that is tragic. And I'm, so sorry for his family and for us that we can't even say that anymore. Look, what's happening in Minnesota is awful, and time will tell where all the individual problems are coming from. But for right now, I think it's enough just to say it is awful and my heart is broken and the loss of life is tragic and Jesus, Lord, please come quickly. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

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