Festering Wounds

There are many wounds- physical, emotional and spiritual- that fester, worsen, and spread if not dealt with appropriately. 

A boil is a minor physical wound known to fester. In the technical sense, a boil is a painful infection of a hair follicle and the surrounding skin. It begins as a red lump, then fills with pus as white blood cells rush in to fight the infection (I asked Google). But even minor wounds ignored or inappropriately treated can have major consequences. The longer we go without proper treatment, the larger the risk for further damage.  

When I was in college I got what I thought was a spider bite while on vacation at a lake. Turns out, it wasn’t. A small annoyance grew into a throbbing. A hardness and heat rose from within my leg, growing from the diameter of a pencil eraser to the circumference of a golf ball. I couldn't sit or do much of anything without pain, so I did a little research and tried to drain this fluid myself. Turns out that wasn’t the best idea. After an entire morning of trying to drain the fluid, I stopped to eat. When I came back 30 minutes later to drain more, it felt like everything that I had successfully drained rushed right back into place.  I gave up, drove myself to urgent care and let them numb me and cut it open properly. 

As the doctor finished the incisions, she explained with technical precision that I had a boil. She went on to describe how in order to release the pressure she had to cut to the bottom of the infection, clean it out, and then stuff the open wound with gauze so that it would be able to heal from the inside out. If I did not change the gauze daily, the healing would stagnate; if I forgot to put the gauze in the open wound, the top layer would heal over,and all the pus and liquid would rush right back into the open space below the closed skin. She didn’t seem grossed out when she explained how each day the amount of gauze used would decrease as the wound healed from the bottom to the top. I listened attentively with both interest and disgust at the workings of the human body.

The body is incredible, strong, and resilient, and I am constantly amazed by it. I am awe at how it can create life, heal from heinous damage, and also how conversely delicate it can be. If a microscopic virus takes root, it can grow and cause death. If a single chromosome is out of place, our entire body is hugely impacted. When we stubb our pinky toe, even this tiny body part causes a full bodied reaction. One with hopping, hobbling and probably some swearing too. 

I love how the Bible teaches us that we, as followers of Jesus, are like ONE body. In 1 Corinthians 12:26 it says, “If one part of the body suffers, then all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part is honored, then all the other parts share its honor” (ESV). 

I am shaken at the current outcomes of the self-serving path American religion as a whole has paved. Even in 2020 we are still waking up to the pain of our brothers and sisters, our own body, right in our midst. When we ignore the pain of others we, first of all, completely ignore Galatians 6:2 which says, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ;” and secondly, we cause our own demise. Ignoring a part of the body is still ignoring OUR OWN pain. When we ignore pain, pain eventually wins! Pain in one part, is pain in the whole body. 

We are one body, ONE BODY, and. I would love to see the body of Christ tend to both the pain and the infection. 

In order to deal with our wounds effectively we must address it with our whole body: mind, hands, feet, blood, heart, nervous system, all of it. We might have to accept that the pain or the injury is bigger, deeper and more pervasive than we originally thought. Once we realize the magnitude of the injury, we must seek true treatment and not just pain relief. We must be willing to cut down to the core of the issue and let all the ugly pus out. And THEN we can take the time to put the proper healing measures in place and DAILY address the healing. 

The impact of the sin of racism on the body of the Church is deep. Many parts of the body are in extreme pain and others are feeling the reverberations of that pain that we have brushed over, and ignored for far too long. 

So what lies beneath the surface? What keeps us from getting treatment? Are we just seeking pain relief or are we seeking healing?

Today, if you are a follower of Christ, I urge you, I implore you, do not let the wound of racism and its effect fester any longer. Do not excuse or write off the pain because it is less noticeable. Guess what, it is noticeable... AGAIN. Historically our nation has treated racism like the boil I tried to drain myself. We deal with the surface, we let a little pus escape, then we ignore it for a while and all that nasty pus fills right back into place until the pain reaches another tipping point. It is time to cut in deep, let the pus explode, see it in all its nastiness, and then do the DAILY work of changing the dressing in order for the body to heal.