The Summons

Today Memphis will gather to bury Tyre Nichols. When George Floyd’s life was snuffed out, also at the hands of police officers, people marched with signs that said, “All mothers were summoned when he called out for his mama.” Here we are again, with another cry for another mama.

Mamas, will we respond? Will we pause packing lunches and driving carpools and cheering on sidelines long enough to imagine what our sister, RowVaughn Wells—Tyre Nichols’ mother—is walking through today?

I’m asking myself. No finger pointing here. I have admittedly not taken time to sit with this.

How will I answer the summons? What does it look like for me to love my neighbor as myself today? And tomorrow? And all of my days?

National Black History Month starts today and it should be and could be a day of celebration. I was planning to share book and movies recommendations for you to enjoy all month long (all year long!).

But it’s burial day.

Today books fall short. To be sure, books and movies and education and relationships and learning and doing the work are all part of it. Absolutely, these are key ways to answer the summons. But maybe today we simply pause to remember Tyre’s life and death and we pray for his mama and we ask God our Maker what we can do.

Maybe today we sit with the grief and feel the discomfort of not fully understanding how we are a nation made up of both individuals and systems—yes, it’s both individuals and systems—that seek death, not life. Why are we more willing to dispose of lives than to protect them? Why do we have historic and current legislation and practices in place that do away with lives instead of cherishing them?

Tyre Nichols was knit together in his mother’s womb, as all precious image bearers are. In his final moments he cried out to her. And today she says her final goodbyes to him. So then, mamas, today let’s grieve with her, pray for her, and ask the God who made us how we ought to respond to the summons.

Artwork by Ruth Chou Simons