Liberty University, Your Ugly Roots Are Showing - The Christian Century

The Moral Majority was formed to fight desegregation and the Civil Rights Act and Jerry Falwell Sr. championed segregationists.  So it makes sense that Donald Trump - who vilifies Muslims and Mexicans, who wants to build walls and institute bans, who hired Jeff Sessions as Attorney General - would find friends at Liberty University. 

Loyalty explains why Trump loves Falwell, but why is the feeling mutual? Why would Falwell see such dreamy qualities in Trump? How could the Moral Majority and a famously immoral president form an alliance? And how could most of Evangelicals go along with it?

The answer lies in the reality that we have a false story of the origins of the Religious Right in our minds. Despite the common perception that it was founded to fight Roe v. Wade, the Moral Majority was formed to fight desegregation and the Civil Rights Act.

Jerry Falwell, Sr. championed segregationists. In a sermon, the elder Falwell preached in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision to desegregate public schools:

If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.

The elder Falwell went on to say that integration will “destroy our race eventually.” Falwell worked to start a white Christian schools in response to desegregation and strongly defended others who started them. Then in 1971, when the IRS moved to revoke the tax exempt status of Bob Jones University which forbade interracial dating, the Moral Majority movement began.

Once again, Liberty University's ugly roots are showing. So it makes sense that President Trump, who vilifies Muslims and Mexicans, who wants to build walls and institute bans, who hired Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, would find friends at Liberty University.

The full article is available here

Navigating the Cobblestones: Christian Leadership in Difficult Times - Julius Medenblik

If you are leading, you should have an understanding that difficult circumstances are either present or just around the corner.

Leadership is always difficult. If you are leading, you should have an understanding that difficult circumstances are either present or just around the corner. Here are a few principles for navigating these challenges.

Leadership is about the journey.  I know too many people in the church who want everything “settled.” Many people have a destination perspective about life and even the Christian life. As a result, they miss the journey that God is placing before them and the growing in faith and discipleship that comes from being attentive to the journey.

In the present age, I see that the cultural milieu on expedience has led to a bumper sticker, microwave mentality where we want a few words to settle any issue—now. We live in an age of slogans rather than engagement.

The leadership journey is a marathon. If you and I are to flourish in ministry, we need to be like marathon runners who find a group of other runners and pace ourselves to run the race—together. A key African proverb that has guided me is—“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.”

Leadership is first about listening. Listening is part of a spiritual discipline and practice of being attentive to what God is doing already before you even show up.

Finally, leadership is also about giving voice to those whose voices we do not always hear. A good reminder is to "remember those who are not in this room." Leadership is about listening to people from different cultures and experiences and then helping those voices be heard. What does that mean for me?

As a white male; I need to keep before me the need (if I am going to be a good leader) to seek out the voices of others who will bring wisdom and insights that I would miss—if I am not deliberate to listen and learn from them. If we really see value in a chorus of witnesses, we need to be willing to seek those voices out to be part of that choir.

The full article is available here

What I Would Change About Our Immigration Conversation - CRC Network

So much of the conversation about immigration during this election season has not been based on facts or on the biblical value of philoxenia.

There has been much talk about immigrants—and not enough listening to immigrants themselves.

How does the immigration conversation need to change?

Four immigrants will speak up from their experience this month on Do Justice. Sign up to receive the posts in your inbox here.

Let’s change the conversation about immigrants. #BlessingNotBurden

Check out the posts that have gone up so far:

Diversity is Our Greatest Strength: Sarahi

Immigrants come with Skills, Drives, and Passion: Berniz

God In All

And That Is Grace - Joe Kay in Sojourner's

We like to put flesh-and-blood on the notion that we are recipients of some great gift that arrives unexpectedly and is given freely. Someone or something that comes into our life and significantly changes it for the better in some ways.

It’s interesting how the word “grace” gets used a lot, even by those who don’t necessarily consider themselves religious. It’s a favorite name for a character that represents someone who is a gift to us — I’m thinking about Bruce’s girlfriend Grace in Bruce Almighty, or Eli’s reassuring encounter with a woman named Grace in the second season of the TV series Eli Stone.

You can probably cite many more examples of characters named Grace in different movies, television shows, and books.

We like to put flesh-and-blood on the notion that we are recipients of some great gift that arrives unexpectedly and is given freely. Someone or something that comes into our life and significantly changes it for the better in some ways.

But what is grace? Who is grace to us?

You make a bad decision and suffer the consequences (we‘ve all been there). You make what seems to be a good decision and it has unintended consequences (we‘ve all been there, too). Some people are there with you through it all, no matter what it costs them. They think that you are worth whatever price has to be paid to be with you. And you are willing to pay the price to be there for them, too.

That is grace.

You feel lost and alone. You begin to despair about whether you can get your life together. You feel trapped. You feel inadequate. And yet you find others who remind you that you are amazing. They make you see the possibilities of each day. And you end up doing the same for them.

That is grace.

You think that if anyone knew the real you, they wouldn’t like you. You hide parts of yourself from others. And then you find that there are those who want to get to know those parts of you and appreciate them and celebrate them with you. And you want to do the same with them.

That is grace.

You realize that life is limited. You lose sleep over the realization that you’ll never achieve all of your dreams. Someone comes along to remind you that you’re never alone in your worries and concerns. They tell you that you are perfect just as you are. And you are inspired to remind others of it, too.

That is grace.

The full article is available here

The Theology of The Cross - notes from theology class at Calvin College

The cross is where God meets humanity where it is - on the way to the grave. Paradoxically, where God looks least recognizable is where God is most fully revealed.

At the cross, God is being an iconoclast of himself. At the cross, God destroys all of the preconceived notions of what God is like; all-powerful, all-knowing and transcendent. 

In being crucified, Jesus returns the experience and realities of suffering, pain, humiliation and abandonment to what is the triune life of God.  It is difficult to understate the theological and existential importance of the reality that God suffers along with us, continually.