News, media, information, publishing and the spiritual or divine are inseparable — digital or otherwise. This fact has been laid bare since the pandemic began. Churches have had to respond quickly to increased anxieties and new challenges, all while reimagining the ways we gather as disciples of Jesus. How can they worship and serve faithfully in a strange time, when we are not gathered in bodily presence?
Every Thursday, I try to wear black to stand in solidarity with my siblings who are experiencing violence. Some days I forget, but working from home gives me the opportunity to correct it. But those who experience violence can’t forget, because they live with the trauma of it every day. What if we, in our daily lives, loved others like God in Christ loves them? Would we turn a blind eye to the violence and injustice we know is happening around us? What if we lived in a world that did not tolerate violence? What if the church stood as a voice against violence?
The Four Chaplains stood on the deck of the USAT Dorchester on Feb. 3, 1943. Linked arm in arm, chaplains George Fox (Methodist), Alexander Goode (Jewish), Clark Poling (Reformed) and John Washington (Roman Catholic) sang hymns and offered prayers as the ship sank beneath the turbulent waves of the North Atlantic. Perhaps these courageous servants of God were comforted, even as we read in our Psalm, by knowing the faithful love of our Lord endures forever.
The story of the wise men in Matthew 2 offers us some important lessons. One lesson I glean is that God will step outside of tradition and will use anyone to accomplish God’s purposes. These men according to historical sources were of Persian descent and were highly respected people who studied the stars. They could have been either astronomers or astrologers. What is important is that they were not Jewish. They may have had some knowledge of Judaism, but they were not observers of the Jewish faith.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many have migrated to Russia for a variety of reasons. People from countries of the former Soviet Union came because economic opportunities were better in Russia during this time. In the past 10–15 years, there has been a growing number of people being trafficked from African nations. Often, they have been told that if they can get to Moscow, they will have a gateway to Europe and ultimately to financial success. Traffickers lure with many promises that are, of course, never fulfilled.
Pastor, scholar and university professor the Rev. Dr. Cornel West is often quoted as reminding Christians that “justice is love in the public square.” For me, this declaration is an echo of Micah 6:8, which commands the believer that God requires us to DO justice as an action word in all our interactions. Christians, and more particularly Presbyterians, are fundamentally called into a place of love and justice because of our belief in God. These ideals are consistent and constant themes throughout Scripture. From Genesis, where God calls us to be good stewards over Creation, to the New Testament proclamation to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Bible is clear that it is imperative to recognize that all humanity is valuable and created in the precious image of a loving just God. Therefore, to assert that Black Lives Matter is to affirm this decree as truth.
In the story of God, as we tell it, there is a barrier that exists between the Created world and its Creator. A wall. Sin, we say, separates us from God, and separation from God is unbearable.
Last September, the Youth Advocates Through Theater Arts, a group of thespians I work with, organized a webinar titled HIV HIV Haway (Haway is a local term that means “leave”). YATTA had partnered with the U.N. Population Fund, the Center for Health Solutions and Innovations Philippines and Y-PEER Pilipinas to promote HIV Combination Prevention. The initiative came with the assessment that the Philippines had one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the world, mostly affecting young, marginalized people not easily reached by mainstream health services and programs.
Human beings often forget that all life is sacred.
On this day in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declared the sacredness of all human life due to its “inherent dignity” and its “equal and inalienable rights.”
It is the beginning of November again, and that means that Election Day is around the corner. For some of us, that excites the passions, reminding us of our right to participate in the governance of our country. For others of us, whose confidence in our government has been damaged or who are suspicious of the role of government altogether, this time of year may not hold the same sense of promise and hope. Politically, we find members of our denomination all along the spectrum of opinion. And increasingly our faith in, or our suspicion of, government, is a significant marker for where we stand along that spectrum.