Tag: lament

Flood Ash (West Coast Fires)

This piece is about the fires that burned and continue to burn on the West Coast of the United States. Romans 8 speaks of the creation groaning in the world in its current fallen state. I believe that the natural disasters and ecological devastation that visits humanity is a physical aspect of creation's groaning. Even these events deemed natural, are I believe, part of a fallen creation that we exist in, and that humanity essentially caused to be broken in the first place. Humanity has an impact on creation which has an impact on humanity. Subduing and proper stewardship of the earth has a couple layers to it. It’s not only abstaining from certain things, but a call and invitation into activity and tending in a number of different ways.

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Same Last Words, Same Pre-existing Conditions, and a Birthday (George Floyd, Eric Garner, Erica Garner)

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.

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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.

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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 →

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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.

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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.

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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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