Go and Knock

The Saturday after George Floyd's death, the telephone rang.  A friend's church was gathering for the first time since the COVID-19 quarantine and the pastor wanted me to speak.  "You're a Christian, black and run with cops.  We think you might have something to say."

I spoke of Peter having a friend who died in broad daylight in the presence of keepers of the peace.   Peter spent weeks in fearful hiding because of his friend's public death at the hands of centurions.  Seven years after his friend's death, the Lord told Peter to visit the home of a centurion.  With doubts, he went.

George Floyd died in broad daylight in the presence of keepers of the peace.  Protests and riots have erupted because he died at the hands of police officers.  He had a broad nose, brown skin, a short haircut and finished high school in 1992.

I finished high school in 1992, have a broad nose, brown skin and a short haircut.   In 1990 I was traumatized by police officers, spent twenty-one years fearing police and suburban spaces until the Lord told me, "Fear Me, not cops.  Go down to that police station, knock on the door and make some friends."

The Lord told Peter:

“Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” ~ Acts 10:19-22

A centurion was a keeper of the peace with eighty to one hundred people in his command.  The city in which the Spirit spoke to Peter was within sixty miles of the site where his friend died publicly.  Cornelius' city was also within sixty miles of Peter's friend's grave.  Centurions commanding hundreds of people were unique; there was a limited number within a sixty mile radius.

Cornelius the centurion probably knew the centurion who was present when Peter's friend was crucified.  Peter probably saw Roman centurions regularly and may have been able to identify the one who gave the order to remove Jesus from the cross.  Cornelius might have finished school in the same year, had the same haircut and Roman facial features as the centurion with orders to seal the tomb.   If two centurions were in a room full of civilians, they would have involuntarily nodded at one another because they lived a reality few understood.

Kimberly D. Manning, MD describes the centurions' nod:

In my experience, the black-on-black nod of acknowledgment is usually given in situations where only a few other black people are sprinkled through an environment together. For example—when I enter a PTA meeting at my sons’ school (where the attendees are predominantly non-black), without fail the handful of ethnically similar parents in the room automatically exchange nods with me. (JAMA, Vol 323, Number 17, page 1684)

Centurions would have nodded, the way black people nod, the way cops nod.

I would nod at Peter but only the Lord knows if he would nod back.  As centurions gave him pause, so cops gave me pause.  As the Lord spoke to Peter, so did the Lord speak to me.  As Peter walked toward his fears, so did I walk toward my fears.  Peter went with the men, entered Cornelius's house and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I knocked on a precinct door in 2012, did my first ride along and unexpectedly shared Christ with a cop.

In 2014, I applied as a part-time chaplain and in 2018 became full-time.   I continue to serve, with George Floyd's video playing in my mind, for the same reason Peter served through flashbacks of Jesus' torture: Christ compels.

Jesus' sinless frame was battered for my sins, cops' sins, Peter's sins and centurions' sins.  Peter was thankful enough for Jesus' death to walk into the house of a man whose rank was unattainable without the spilling of blood.  I am thankful enough for Jesus' death to turn my broad nosed, dark-skinned, forty-six year old frame toward the precinct.  I minister among officers because Christ ministered among centurions:

When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. ~ Matthew 8: 5-10

I minister among officers because Peter minister among centurions:

 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”  ~ Acts 10: 34-43

George and Mike and Philando call from the grave.  Some hear and protest, others hear and riot.  Some hear and legislate, others hear and beef up training.

I hear a call to remember what to do when people die in broad daylight among peace officers.  Peter hid, heard from the Lord and obeyed with everything he had.  I hid from cops for twenty-one years, heard from the Lord and am taking a next obedient step.

Honesty reveals my doubt that a chaplaincy is effective.  My assignment is however worth more than my doubts.  I'm going to do what He says and in this season, He's saying, "Go down there, knock on the door and make some friends."

I read Peter and remember George's head bobbing publicly.  I read of Jesus and recall his head bobbing publicly.

Then I go, knock and share Christ, trusting He is the Friend who sticks closer than a brother.