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Different but the Same
Most nights I go to bed anxious. Anxious about the turmoil across our country and our world. Anxious about the place where my little boys will grow up and the challenges they will face. The past few months have shocked us with pain, turmoil, and anger. They have marked us and made us. Life will look different, even after we return to our normal routines. As I worry about the unknowns ahead, I’m reminded that Solomon told us, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Our problems are unique, but they are not new. Just take a look at the Bible’s history. Anger turned to murder within the…
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Diversity: Can Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth?
Standing in Nazareth's Basilica of the Annunciation, I gazed up at mosaics from all over the world. These works depicted the Virgin Mary with Jesus, and in each case Jesus bore the ethnic identity of the predominate group in the gifting country. That is, the art from Ecuador showed Jesus as Ecuadorian; the work from Japan, as Japanese; and the one from Thailand, as Thai. The baby Jesus from Slovenia even had red hair. The mosaics’ creators made these localized images to remind viewers that Jesus is “one of us”—which he is. Yet so many artists have depicted Jesus as white for so long with such far-reaching influence that many…
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The Church’s Blind Side: Why Black Lives, Blue Lives, and All Lives Matter
There is an unspeakable ache in my heart today, can you feel it too? Among the angst, frustration and bitterness, what I feel most is really disappointment. I am disappointed that that after years of striving to be a beacon of democracy, people can be left to bleed out in the streets, with no trial, no due process, and no convictions. I am disappointed that a band of heartless cowards decided to target police officers in my own city of Dallas, Texas, leaving 5 dead and several others wounded. I am disappointed that the actions of these few will now be extrapolated and applied to the entire Black Lives Matter movement,…
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I read the news today, oh boy: DOMA goes down. Time to step up the love
On Thursday the New York Times headlines announced, “Supreme Court Bolsters Gay Marriage with Two Major Rulings.” They could just as well have read, “Supreme Court Bolsters Gay Marriage, Accuses DOMA Defenders of Malice.” On what basis did the majority rule? The U.S. Constitution says nothing about a “right to marriage.” All marriage laws in our nation have always been state laws. Have gays seeking to marry been deprived of due process? The court has previously ruled that the Due Process Clause protects only “those fundamental rights and liberties which are, objectively, ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition or equal protection,'” a hard case to make since Massachusetts…
