The Long Road Ahead: Patience and Persistence

We all know of defining moments in American history. The death of George Floyd could be one of them, though it is too early to predict with certainty. The long-term results depend, of course, on what will follow after the protests have faded and the country returns to some semblance of normality.

It is right that we as Americans mourn and protest. More is at stake than the brutal death of a black man in Minneapolis. This injustice has happened too many times before. The murder of Floyd, so unequivocally wrong, has only torn open an old wound that has never healed, not since the first ship of slaves set sail for America.

Cultural moments like the death of Floyd create energy and momentum, like the burst of a rocket during liftoff. Thousands gather to march, chant slogans, call for justice, and demand change. Protest is the first and necessary step to secure real and permanent change, as American history has demonstrated many times before, beginning with the first protest that led to the founding of our country. Those first patriots did not die in vain because their heirs chose to do something about it.

Protest is necessary, to be sure. But it is not sufficient. The moment will come when the country, weary of protest and conflict, will return to business as usual. Only then does the true test begin. Will something good come of it? Will justice result? Will the country change for the better?

American history provides the example we need. The first major protest in America inspired a generation of intellectuals and leaders to write the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Even then they did not slip to the sidelines but chose to govern, lead, and shape the new nation during its vulnerable infancy.

Protests last for a week or two. True change takes much longer. It requires patience and persistence, two virtues that, though not unique to Christians, should characterize Christians. It can hardly be otherwise, considering the one whom Christians follow. Apprentices to Jesus learn to be patient and persistent because Jesus was, to an uncommon degree. He prayed, served, taught, loved, and died with patience and persistence. Just so did he accomplish the world’s redemption. If it was true of Jesus, it should be true of his disciples, too.

Patience has to do with how we refuse to let setbacks and opposition slow us down and turn us away from the task at hand. Persistence has to do with how we pursue a goal with unrelenting commitment. The pursuit of justice requires both patience and persistence: to stay at it, to work within the system (or create a new one), to find solutions to problems that seem intractable, to refuse to settle for anything less than true and lasting change.

The enormity of the challenge requires a strength the gospel gives. The gospel calls us to repentance, and gives us the power to forgive. It breaks down old dividing walls of hostility. It speaks of another and greater kingdom over which God rules as Lord. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It summons us into vocations—education, law enforcement, social service—to be salt, leaven, and light in the world. It gives us staying power when the protests end and the old inertia tempts us to settle for the old way.

Protest is the necessary catalyst. But it is only the beginning. What will sustain protest over the long-haul, leading to lasting change? We all know. It is the gospel, the very source of Christian patience and persistence.