love in action
During the US civil rights struggle, lovingkindness required the demolishing of unjust laws, but it also required that individuals take deliberate action. It was not enough for whites to take down the “Whites Only” signs or allow blacks to vote. True welcome and relationship required whites to move toward friendship; and it also required blacks to embrace (again and again) the risk of stepping into friendships within contexts where they had been wronged and excluded. It required love in action.
high-five choir
The High Five Choir is not your typical choir. Teens with developmental disabilities such as Autism, Down syndrome and Noonan syndrome have banded together and perform with a group of disability-free classmates. They don’t always sing in tune or move together in perfect unison. But the High Five Choir is so inspiring that they receive standing ovations during every performance.
Why does…
March 12, 2012
This week a court in the US will hear the case of a former “team lead” NASA scientist who—according to the evangelical plaintiff—was fired due to his belief and promotion of intelligent design. Why do you feel that belief in intelligent design and a Creator is apparently not tolerated in many academic and scientific research arenas?
near
Invictus, a film starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon and set in South Africa at apartheid’s end, tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s inaugural years as South Africa’s first black president. The opening scenes are grim, showing blacks playing soccer in a dumpy, dusty field, while whites, clad in crisp, clean uniforms, are playing rugby on a plush field directly…
God says yes
"We thank You, O God! We give thanks because You are near. People everywhere tell of Your wonderful deeds. God says, 'At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked. When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm. I warned the proud, Stop your boasting! I…
smashing serpents
Martin Luther King Jr. famously said that 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America. He meant that white Christians and black Christians often worship in separate churches. Recently I’ve noticed a new kind of Sunday morning segregation. It’s increasingly common for churches to divide according to worship style, holding traditional services for older folks who…
running from nineveh
Sixty-six-year-old Nita Friedman was not the sort of person you would expect to lead the police on a 15-mile car chase. But that’s exactly what police chief Mike Hutter encountered on US Highway 95 in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
After receiving a call about a reckless driver, Hutter spotted Friedman and turned on his lights and siren. Rather than pull over,…
when prejudice meets the Word
A couple weeks ago I preached a message from the Book of Malachi. The message was simple but very difficult for me to deliver. The major point from the message was: “Correcting injustice in the world, begins with God correcting injustice in me.“ Though it was a heavy message for me to deliver, God lifted my spirit in an amazing way as someone…
spiritual unity
Segregating ourselves along ethnic and social lines is a common human practice. We’re simply more comfortable around “our kind” of people, and we tend to keep our distance from those who seem different from us.
In his letter to the church at Philippi, the apostle Paul addressed the challenges faced by a group of people from mixed backgrounds. Within this…
justice
Two of my neighbors, Eugene and Lorraine Williams, have lived a story we all need to hear. Back in 1958, they bought a house on Ridge Street, and the welcome from their white neighbors wasn’t exactly warm—most of them moved away. Soon the Williams family also realized their third-grader Scheryl would be bussed to a black school across town, while…
the walls come tumbling down
If you perform a Google search for the Rwandan genocide, you’ll encounter thousands of disturbing stories and graphic images. The most disturbing emerge from a church building in Nyarubuye, where between five and ten thousand Tutsis were murdered. The visual depiction of such gruesome violence in the one place where the victims thought they would be safe is horrific. BBC…
no limits
The other day I spotted a man in a wheelchair rocking back and forth on a street corner. One of his front wheels was stuck in a crack on the curb, and he was struggling to get loose. Moments later, a kind man came along and gave him a push to set him free.
Many of us would refer to…
made in God's image
My wife, Merryn, and I once visited a large market in Sydney. On that day a man was cutting out small silhouettes of people’s faces from black cardstock. He would complete one in two minutes for two dollars. We gave him the money and his shiny scissors went to work, his eyes darting between us and his handiwork. Within 2…
