Thoughts on God’s love and redemption through conscious and Christian hip-hop
A policeman makes reverse 911 callsinstructing residents to take to the streets.A patriarch reports for duty.She is wearing an orange jumpsuit,and holding a picket sign.She is ashamed of her birthplace,but retreat is not an option.Flobots - "We Are Winning" She never thought things would ever change but,She always knew there was something wrong.Flobots - "Anne... Continue Reading →
A quick foreword: Image via The Washington Post Last week was quite a week. Old, untreated wounds have caused a massive fever in the US. It's gotten so hot that even those who are not sick are taking notice around the globe. There have been outpourings of pain and hurt in protest. There have been... Continue Reading →
(Resources) There were so many resources I consumed in preparation for the last post. As the drafts kept changing, the direction kept changing. I may not have written directly on or from the resources linked below, but the value found in them cannot be understated. Before I list those let me say I was definitely... Continue Reading →
Erica Garner’s birthday was May 29. She would have turned 30. In honor of her birthday, and her tireless striving for justice, I wanted to share this spoken word in its entirety, my thoughts on God’s heart as life ends. Weeping. Doubly so when life ends because of an abuse of power by those in authority. The word was originally written her father. Unfortunately, it can easily apply to George Floyd who died in police custody this week. The pre-existing condition that took Eric Garner, and Philando Castile, and George Floyd, and Erica Garner and the grossly overrepresented percentage of African Americans who have contracted and died of Covid-19 and who have become slaves of the carceral state, the same pre-existing condition that was weaponized by Amy Cooper to threaten the life of Christian Cooper, was, and is the condemnation of blackness in a society steeped in white supremacy, and the extreme vulnerability that belongs to poor and low wealth communities in America. I explore these pre-existing conditions and some of their outcomes.
As we continue longing for the Kingdom, and loving the King, we acknowledge living in the already and the not yet. We cry out for His Kingdom come and Will be done, even as Home feels far away. I wanted to take a moment to remember the stories of Calvin Munerlyn and Breonna Taylor, and lament. These are individuals considered heroes in this Covid-19 era. They were killed by those who they were trying to protect, and by those who should have been their allies. I take a look at Christian rapper Thi'sl's own encounter with violence and recognize that the same ones we might sacrifice for and long to minister to, might come to do us harm.
Johnny Cash's “When The Man Comes Around” was a huge influence for this piece. That song moves in the expectation of The Man’s judgment and (I gather,) payment or punishment for sin. With such great injustice in the world, we can long for the same. And there is Biblical allowance to do so, but as followers of Christ I feel there is a fine line between our anger and sinning not (Ephesians 4:26). Sinless whip-snapping and temple-table-flipping is probably not natural. In this broken world, where injustice and pain and violence is rife, the tension is real. I believe that we, as believers are called to bear witness to, and to cry out against evil. But witnessing and speaking out against injustice and brokenness can weigh us down. This piece calls our focus back to the Lamb, Slain and Risen for us, even in a world of brokenness. It calls us to long for love, over vengeance.
On February 23, 2020 I had an amazing worship experience. Heaven felt so close. I really felt like I was not far from my true Home. The experience brought tears to my eyes. About 3 miles from his home, Ahmaud Arbery was killed. On February 23 I felt like heaven was so close. Then I see what happened on February 23, and what didn't happen for two plus months, and heaven feels so far. But I realize, again, that God is not only found in our joyous moments. Looking at the Holy Place in the Tabernacle of Moses leads me to believe, again, that God also invites us to meet with Him in dark days of lament and mourning over violence. There is a space for us before the Lord in our pain.
The Lion of Judah, He cameThe Son set down in our world,and still He reignedOur infatuation with killingextended to HimHe was slain All that He made will get this redemption, it's finally reclaimed, we'll sing Somebody told me,I won't need a shoulder to weep on,no more tearsSomebody told me,I ain't gotta hold no heatain't no... Continue Reading →
In my previous post “If (Primary) Justice Was Done”, I looked at a form of justice that, if practiced with earnest and self-sacrifice by the Christians who were in the early and adolescent United States of America, could have preempted the creation of highly racialized laws which have contributed to the Laments in Midlothian. In this post I'll revisit an earlier post about fear. In the original post I considered how fear (as a tool of the lowly lion) will likely be used to justify the killing of Jemel Roberson. This week, I will consider how a prophetic lens of faith and honor may have brought a prophetic letter of love to Midlothian, rather than a lament.
In the first three posts of this commentary series (you can start with the forward here) I highlighted some of the factors that led to the Laments in Midlothian. I plan to conclude this series by looking back over some of the themes of those three posts through a different lens, shaded by the law of love. In this post I start by looking at two Hebrew words for justice, and exploring how things may have been different if primary justice played a bigger role in America's past when it comes to race.
Festival of Booths 