February 23rd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Heaven Feels Far

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.

Of Love and Our Lion and His Love

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 →

Of Faith, And Prophesied-Over Image Bearers

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.

If (Primary) Justice Was Done

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.

The Sound of Grace

This is a piece prepared for Easter Sunday church service, today April 12, 2020.

In it I contemplate the love and confidence of Father Son and Spirit in their planning to redeem humanity (did They laugh?), and wonder if there was wavering on the way to the Cross. I look at how far heaven may have seemed as Christ moved closer to death for us.

And I celebrate the beauty of the Resurrection, even as we still wait for the fullness of it to be revealed.

God, As Healthy Oxygen Saturation Levels Fall Too Far, Weeping.

"But neither infinite power nor infinite wisdom could bestow godhood upon men. For that there would have to be infinite love as well." Walter Miller Jr., A Canticle For Leibowitz. As of this posting we are under the pandemic. Covid-19 is ultimately an icon of creation post-fall. As we live in the tension and long for redemption, let us take time to mourn with those who mourn over loss and suffering. I believe that that number includes our God.

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