George Floyd believed in
a God of Fresh Starts​

"His move would be a fresh start, Mr. Ngwolo said, his story one of redemption."
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George Floyd moved to Minnesota in order to make a fresh start.  We honor George Floyd by undertaking a fresh start in our collective lives as Americans toward love and justice, and by trusting that his own steps in making a fresh start continue in heaven as they did on earth.  The move to Minnesota was not his last move.  Minneapolis was not his last home.  

George Floyd, from "I Want to Touch the World" to "I Can't Breathe."

J. Blue for The New York Times

From High School Yearbook, NY Times

After prison, Mr. Floyd became even more committed to his church. Inspired by a daughter, Gianna Floyd, born after he was released, Mr. Floyd spent a lot of time at Resurrection Houston, a church that holds many of its services on the basketball court in the middle of Cuney Homes. He would set up chairs and drag out to the center of the court the service’s main attraction — the baptism tub.

“We’d baptize people on the court and we’ve got this big old horse trough. And he’d drag that thing by himself onto that court,” said Patrick Ngwolo, a lawyer and pastor of Resurrection Houston, who described Mr. Floyd as a father figure for younger community residents.

Eventually, Mr. Floyd became involved in a Christian program with a history of taking men to Minnesota from the Third Ward and providing them with drug rehabilitation and job placement services.
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“When you say, ‘I’m going to Minnesota,’ everybody knows you’re going to this church-work program out of Minnesota,” Mr. Ngwolo said, “and you’re getting out of this environment.”
 
His move would be a fresh start, Mr. Ngwolo said, his story one of redemption.

George Floyd, from "I Want to Touch the World" to "I Can't Breathe."By Manny Fernandez and Audra D. S. Burch in NYTime

• June 9, 2020

Commentary
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George Floyd sought a fresh start when he moved to Minnesota, and so ought we seek a fresh start in creating a new kind of America.   But I’d like to focus on George.   I suggest that George Floyd’s life is still unfolding, both on earth and in heaven.  The fresh start is not over.

The story of his life is obviously unfolding on earth, through our memories of him.  His sad death, seared into the imaginations of so many, is not the last word.  Our memory of his last moments is now serving to catalyze a movement for good on earth: a movement for justice and love that includes all of us.   We ourselves are adding to his story, in a positive way, if we help advance our movement.  He would have liked this.  In a tribute to his life in the NY Times we read:

It was the last day of 11th grade at Jack Yates High School in Houston, nearly three decades ago. A group of close friends, on their way home, were contemplating what senior year and beyond would bring. They were black teenagers on the precipice of manhood. What, they asked one another, did they want to do with their lives?
“George turned to me and said, ‘I want to touch the world,’” said Jonathan Veal, 45, recalling the aspiration of one of the young men — a tall, gregarious star athlete named George Floyd whom he had met in the school cafeteria on the first day of sixth grade. (NY Times, June 9, 2020)

And yet, in order for George Floyd to touch us, we need not and ought not turn him into an idol.  Hear the words of someone who responded to the NY Times article.

“Thank you for remembering that, to those who knew and loved him, George Floyd was his life, not his death. And it's heartbreaking to read this very human portrait of a good man. But I want to remind us all that it does not matter what kind of life he led, it does not matter if he was a good man, a paragon, or a criminal. Nobody at all deserves to die the way George Floyd did. And no representative of 'law and order' should ever again imagine that he had the right to torture and kill anyone the way George Floyd was tortured and killed. (S North, commentary on story in NY Times on George Floyd, June 9)

To these words, I would like to add another comment.  George was a Christian, and I am, too.  He believed and I believe that the universe is enfolded within a cosmic Heart who saves the world through tenderness not force, and who weaves all the good that we have done, however minimal, into a larger whole.  I believe the same.  

This means that nobody’s life is entirely measurable by the kind of life he or she leads.  Yes, we are accountable for our actions.  Yes, what we do has repercussions for others and ourselves.  But who among us wishes to cast the first stone?  Or the last one? "Who among us is without sin?," said Jesus.

And who among us can claim that even our noblest of deeds - acts of compassion for others, for example - are solely the result of an innate goodness of heart that we somehow created all by ourselves.  When it comes to virtue, we do not pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.  If we happen to have our moments of virtue, they are made possible by so many factors that we do not ourselves create: by the circumstances into which we were born, however privileged or deprived; by whatever family life we enjoyed, or suffered, in childhood; by the myriad influences from society into which we were socialized; by the approvals and disapprovals of peers and family; by the color of our skin and the shape of our bodies.  We do not ‘make ourselves’ by ourselves.  We make ourselves with help from, and as inhibited by, others.  This holds true for George Floyd and for all of us. 

This means that our lives are always works-in-progress and that whatever “progress” we make is a result not only of decisions we make but also decisions others make.  We create worlds for one another and are affected by the worlds others create for us.  We are relational selves. 

One of the worlds that influences us on earth is God’s lure within our own hearts: a lure to do good, to enjoy life, to help others, to grow in the very size of our souls.  This inwardly felt lure, half conscious and half unconscious, is refreshing and tender.  It is a call to become the best self we can become given whatever situations we face.  It is God within us.  It is why George moved to Minnesota.

So how about George now?  How about George in heaven?  Here we walk in mystery.  None of us really know what lies on the other side.  Still we can hope.  If God was within George Floyd on earth as a lure toward creative transformation, is it not possible that God is within George now in the same way?  Is it not possible that the creative transformation of his life as he knew it on earth, by moving from Houston to Minnesota to build a new life, might also continue in heaven?  I hope so.  What we need to do on earth is to learn, not only from his death but also from his desire to build a new life, his desire for a fresh start. 

I do not ask of George that he be perfectly obedient to this desire.  Again, who among us?  But I do want to honor his memory by leaning into the very desire he leaned into, the desire for a fresh start.  I offer a prayer for him and his family, and for all of us, including all who harmed him and others, that we so lean.  This is our hope.  This is what inspires us about George Floyd.  He believed in a God of fresh starts.  May we share in his beliefs.

-- Jay McDaniel, June 9, 2020