Whilst I don’t represent the entire black experience, as a black man living in the UK, I think about the colour of my skin every day.

Whether it is because I’ve been spat at in the street or I’ve been referred to as “Black Paul”, every day I am fully conscious of what makes me different, and therefore, for some, lesser.

As a black Christian I am comforted by the knowledge that through Jesus Christ this world will be reconciled, and we will see a day where division caused by race is a distant memory.

However, that day is not here yet, and so unfortunately people of colour, black people, face systemic inequalities that separate and diminish them, leaving them oppressed and without justice.

As a Christian, I know the God I follow is not silent in the face of oppression and injustice.

As I read God’s word, I am inspired by the liberation of the Jews in Exodus, by the prophets who risked their lives in speaking truth to power and by the audacity of Jesus as he faced down an empire for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.

Therefore, as a black Christian British man, I ask that church, you would stand with me against the sins of systemic inequality that took the lives of George Floyd, Stephen Lawrence and so many others.

And as we fast and pray today, I would like to offer 3 ways that you can do this.

Firstly, I request that you approach Christ in all humility, asking Him to reveal your own unconscious biases, so that you can go beyond passively saying you are not racist, but be actively antiracist.

Secondly, I would ask that you reflect, meditate and pray into the words of Jesus as he quotes from Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Discover what those words mean for you today and pray them over our nation.

Thirdly, I would ask us to consider how we can act.

In Matthew 25 the King calls the righteous those who stand for the stranger, for the one who doesn’t look like them. He says that in serving the other, they served Christ. Today the other is the black people across this country who have experienced segregation and hate because of the colour of their skin. Whether it be in prayers offered, stories heard, books read, banners raised, food served, finances given, petitions signed, or privilege acknowledged, you can make a difference, and doing so, find Christ.

I’d like to end on the words of Pope Francis who said this week, "My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life." 

Church, I believe that black lives are sacred, and because they are sacred, they matter.

Pray. Reflect. Act.

God bless you.