Posts from January 2014
Justice, love and walking humbly with God
First, “do justice.” This word is always one found in a court of law, but out of the mouth of God justice is always dictated by the concerns of those to whom justice is denied. Israel’s evil actions against house and householder are the very essence of injustice. Such evil actions must stop. Second, “love hesed.” That Hebrew word is slippery to translate, but beyond all it appears to mean the unbreakable connection that YHWH has with the people. And because…
Prayer of preparation
Here is a prayer to help prepare yourself to listen to one another this week. The Holy One is the Holy Many; all things are in God, who is greater. What you find of God always hides what you have yet to see and what you can never know. God is not individual, but community. God is love, which is relationship; God is the Loving and the Beloved. God is both Father and Son, this and also not this; and…
Toward Sunday
We continue our worship series this Sunday called Don’t Talk About That at The Table; inviting reflection & conversation on many of the topics we “aren’t” supposed to talk about in church. This week we will consider Abortion. Outline January 12: United Methodist Social Principles (Acts 10.34-43) January 19: Race (Matthew 5.38-48) January 26: Immigration (1 Corinthians 1.10-18) February 2: Abortion (Micah 6.1-8) February 9: Gender (Ephesians 5.22-24 & Galatians 3.28) February 16: Sexuality (Romans 1.26-27 & Ruth 1.16-17) February 23: Prisons (Hebrews 13.3) Take time today to…
Immigration and Hospitality
In Matthew 10.40-42 we read about the importance of hospitality among the faithful. It took courage and commitment for the persecuted Christian community of the First Century to offer hospitality to prophets and preachers, so Matthew reminds his readers that they are ministering to Jesus himself in welcoming his disciples and brothers and sisters in the faith who might come from unknown places….. The cup of water that Matthew asks us to offer is a dangerous thing. It assumes…
“Them”
“Never again,” we cry. We wish. We remember the six million, we think the Nazis were cruel and crazy, we think all that was so strange and faraway. We look at the past, we look far off, we look away. That’s all it takes for it to happen again. We think “them,” not “us” not “my people.” We never think. “I’m part of that.” You see, it happens all the time. Jews, Gays, immigrants, Palestinians, Indians, prisoners, the infirm, the…
Immigrants
Ched Myers writes, “The political winds of imperial conquest and settlement, and the global economic currents of boom and bust, push and pull people like great tides. They have shaped and reshaped the shorelines of countries and cultures since the first soldiers of fortune landed lost on the beaches of Great Turtle Island. To blame the immigrant for the tides is like blaming a fallen apple for gravity. Who is legal, who is an immigrant, and even who is…
Toward Sunday
We continue our worship series this Sunday called Don’t Talk About That at The Table; inviting reflection & conversation on many of the topics we “aren’t” supposed to talk about in church. This week we will consider Immigration. We hope that this worship series will create safe environments for challenging conversations. Outline January 12: United Methodist Social Principles (Acts 10.34-43) January 19: Race (Matthew 5.38-48) January 26: Immigration (1 Corinthians 1.10-18) February 2: Abortion (Micah 6.1-8) February 9: Gender (Ephesians 5.22-24 & Galatians 3.28) February 16: Sexuality…
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass might have classified many professing Christians with the scribes and Pharisees of whom Jesus said, “Do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach” (Matthew 23.3) Douglas recalled that his one-time owner had “attended a Methodist camp meeting and there experienced religion. If it had any effect on his character, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways.” How? Because with…
Saviorism
A Good Ally avoids saviorism and constantly reflects upon their role and place in the larger struggle. …Sometimes in our vigor and passion to fight injustice, we fall into the trap of saviorhood. The male that fights for women’s rights, the straight/CIS person who advocates for LGBTQ people, the White person confronting racism. I have no doubt that most begin with great intentions, but as we have seen over and over again, when unchecked and unreflective, even the most passionate and…
Responding to Racism
Doug Worgul’s novel, “Thin Blue Smoke”, chronicles the life of LaVerne Williams, the owner of a Kansas City restaurant, and touches upon everything from God to race to friendship to character to, as you would expect of a Kansas City writer…Barbeque. At one point, LaVerne’s son Raymond (who is african american) and his best friend A.B. (who is caucasion) are arrested after they locked their keys in their own restaurant. As the officer comes to release Raymond and A.B. from…
Racism
This week we turn to race and racism in our exploration of controversial social issues of our day. The United Methodist Social Principles Statement on the Rights of Racial and Ethnic Persons (paragraph 162.a) includes the following, “Racism is the combination of the power to dominate by one race over other races and a value system that assumes that the dominant race is innately superior to the others. Racism includes both personal and institutional racism….We rejoice in the gifts that particular…
Toward Sunday
We move into the first topic of our new worship series this Sunday called Don’t Talk About That at The Table. Our worship series will invite reflection & conversation on many of the topics we “aren’t” supposed to talk about in church. This week we will consider Race. The outline of our current series: January 12: United Methodist Social Principles (Acts 10.34-43) January 19: Race (Matthew 5.38-48) January 26: Immigration (1 Corinthians 1.10-18) February 2: Abortion (Micah 6.1-8) February 9:…
- 1
- 2