“The Least of These” Includes Ahmaud Arbery

  To be profiled, targeted, accosted, and shot dead is to be among “the least,” unseen, unheard, misunderstood, and denied help. It is to be among people Jesus sees, hears, understands, and treats as Family. To diminish or dismiss, to deny or deflect, to excuse or “explain” the horror of this is to align with …

Extreme Alternatives or Doubling Down Discipleship

Imagine that you, a loved one, or a friend were stricken with the COVID-19 virus.  Then, imagine a politician asserting that it would be the lesser of two evils to suspend the social practices now curbing the spread of COVID-19 and saving lives than to maintain such practices and further threaten the economy.  That is: …

LENTEN LAMENTATION

At the end of this week followers of Jesus will bring to completion their Lenten observance.  They will have named and denied their self-life, shouldered the weight of costly self-sacrifice with Jesus, and come to the Garden and the Cross.  They will remember Jesus’ loud cries and tears at the cup handed him, and then …

God is STILL on the Throne! ?

It is common for people of faith to respond to tragedy and threat by affirming: “God is still on the Throne!”  I take this to mean that whatever has happened or is happening has not defeated God, nor surprised God, and has not called into question God’s ability or willingness to help.  What has happened …

Fight Pandemic with Pandemic

As we all know, the word “pandemic” has become synonymous with terms like “plague, scourge, and disease” and therefore conjures up a sense of dire threat.  But “pandemic” is actually an adjective that qualifies something else as “widespread, prevalent, pervasive, universal, global.”  “Pan” means “all,” and “Demos,” means “people.”  When something is pandemic it extends …