George of Sylvania

Tag: black lives matter

  • Prisoners of Prophetic Hope

    Prisoners of Prophetic Hope

    Yesterday I had the honor to preach the sermon at my home, Trinity Episcopal Church, a progressive, inclusive, creative, downtown church. It has been a cornerstone of Toledo since 1837, and a bedrock of those seeking to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. If you’d like to watch the service you can follow the link here, or watch the sermon itself on my Facebook which is linked here. All of the quotes from Bishop Barber, including the Walter Brueggemann quote, can be found in the book, Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing by Bishop Barber. A video of his 2015 MLK Jr. Day sermon can be found here. Also, I have updated some action items that allow for online reach out, so here we go!

    I am going to start with just naming one of the many elephants in the room, yesterday, the country we call home celebrated its 250th birthday. There is tension, joy, anger, and a weird dash of patriotism if, you have been following Europeans visiting for the world cup. Some of us were on the plaza celebrating until the early hours of the morning, some of celebrated with family, and others, friends of mine, to paraphrase a song written by Ben Stalets, who just wanted to be holed up in a hotel room, hoping to God they could get through the night. There is a lot to sit with in this moment we find ourselves, as Christians in this country. To quote Michael W. Austin, co-author of American Christian Nationalism: Neither American nor Christian, “in one sense love of country is a good thing. But in another, it is deeply problematic. Love of Jesus and love of country can come into conflict.”

    It is that conflict, and a way to advocate the world we want, not the one we live in, I would like to spend some time talking about.

    The passage from Zechariah is very small but powerfully packed. Something that was important to ancient Israel, and current Judaism, is the story of the exodus from Egypt. The origin story of where these people called by God, were brought up out of slavery, rescued from the oppressors, welcomed into covenant with God at Mount Sanai, and ultimately brought through the wilderness. There is a constant call back to this story throughout the Jewish and Christian Bibles, and we can see that in how the author of Zechariah phrased the ancient nation of Judah and Israel. Any time we read about chariots or war horses, it should give us pause, because these descriptors are triggers for the original listeners of this story to be brought back to Egypt.

    Pharaoh and his army, with chariots and war horses, chased after the ancient Israelites as Moses led them through the Red Sea. In quick words, the Prophet Zechariah is drawing a one-to-one comparison to Egypt and the people who escaped that oppression to their current status. In their journey to be a blessing to all nations like they promised God to be, the ancient Israelites have become the opposite, they have become the new Egypt, oppressing and enslaving others. This group of people that pledged themselves to God have instead become an empire seeking its own means, claiming it is from God because they are clearly prosperous. It is to this point that Zechariah calls out from God for the dismantling of the military industrial complex, the command that peace be waged in all nations, and for the people who will be doing this work, the prisoners of hope, to be restored.

    Over two thousand years later the people of God, these prisoners of hope, continue to call out this need to dismantle our faith from the oppression, violence, and injustice of empire.

    But how do we do this work, after all, for the past decade there has been an incredibly charged political climate with culture wars and the like dictating new fronts to fight on. While it is incredibly overwhelming, even if we only have the energy in ourselves to voice opposition and to support the marginalized, targeted, and oppressed it can be enough. There is a Palestinian priest in the Evangelical Lutheran Church named Munther Isaac, and in his book, The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope, he writes, “Our silence towards injustice is a political statement itself” and he is right.

    With so much turmoil, what are we to do? Zechariah reminds us we need to take our instruments of oppression, and to turn them into plowshares, garden tools, or fine art. Whatever these 21st century swords and shields we still cling to need to be laid down by the riverside, and we must study war no more. When we start to practice this laying down, we can move from prisoners of hope to what Disciples of Christ Bishop, former North Carolina NAACP President, and current co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, Bishop William Barber II has coined, Prisoners of Prophetic Hope.

    Touching back on the conflict between the love of country and Jesus, it is easy to get frustrated. However, when I look around this room, think of our ministries, I see the truth in the country I love, and it is all of you, and the diversity we offer. When we lay down an old way of life, a new direction and leader is required for us and Jesus offers this in abundance. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

    Every Sunday at 8:20am I give a little pre-breakfast peptalk that touches on this passage, because above the plaza doors in My Brother’s Place lives a sign that reads, “A Place To Nourish Both Body and Soul.” It is a remnant of our past, that screams truth into our future, because we want our friends who come to Breakfast at Trinity to lay their burdens down.

    Trinity has a long history of guiding and advocating for the world we want to live in and trying to reshape America, and I would like to name four examples:

    1. Morrison Waite, who served on vestry from 1852-1874 when he was selected by President Grant to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during Reconstruction. During his time, he expanded the Freedmen’s Bureau, protected people of color from the KKK, and while there was more work to be done to protect Black and people of color during Reconstruction, he showed up and tried.
    2. There is a legend that the first free kindergarten in Lucas County was founded out of Trinity, and while I am unsure how true that is, what I do know is according to our September 1875 Parish Guide, a new term of school started on Monday the 13th, which the author states, “it is with particular gratification that I have been able to announce the establishment of the Kindergarten department, which I consider a great addition to the educational facilities of our city.”
    3. In March of 1912 Jennie Barnes and Hester Scrafford founded the Business Woman’s Guild of Trinity Church where women who worked downtown could come and eat their bagged lunch safely, in community with one another. There are pictures of the café that started in the basement because of this, and there is a bronze plaque commemorating this ministry that lasted well through the 20th Century in what is now our AA room.
    4. If you were present for the Queer Joy Symposium you heard Toledo Councilman Nick Komives talk about how the first Toledo Pride started in this sanctuary with the first Pride interfaith service.

    Again, and again, and again these walls have housed fellow prisoners of hope as we step forward in works of justice brought out from love. The continued work of making spaces safe for everyone is a justice issue Jesus calls us to be active members in creating.

    “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

    These words of Jesus would have called his fellow farmers and working class listeners to think of the oxen in the field shouldering the huge wooden yoke to help plow the fields. Every single one of those examples of Trinity members had days where they wanted to give up.

    At times they may have thought the strain is too much, the world is too dark, and this burden is not light, but too heavy.

    The yoke and burden that Jesus gives us is only light and easy because we have each other to lean on, to help share the load because we mustn’t do this work alone. That is why we must move from being a prisoner of hope, to becoming a Prisoner of Prophetic Hope like those who have come before us.

    In January 2015 at Duke University, Bishop Barber preached the Martin Luther King Jr. Day service, and in that sermon, he speaks on this transition from prisoner to prophet. To become a Prisoner of Prophetic Hope, Bishop Barber says that it is crucial to publicly own the despair in the world we feel and know to be true. The need for this is because when we read the prophets we see how the hope in their words is subversive to the suffering and world around them. Bishop Barber is backed up by the words of Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann, when he writes “prophets must be able to speak in both grief and hope.”

    Because of my role here, I find myself in conversations with random people throughout the week, and there is one consistent throughline in almost every talk that comes up about Trinity. It is not about our building, the pride flags, or any of our ministries. While those do come up, the one consistent thing people tell me about their experience with Trinity is, how welcoming and at home the people here make them feel. The reason why we are so good at welcoming people into Trinty, is because almost all of us that find ourselves through these doors in person or online, we have all been rejected from community. At one point or another, we have found ourselves outside of the place we once called home, and we never want anyone else to feel that way again.

    If you feel called to take on the yoke and burden of Jesus, and you want to move from being a prisoner of hope to a Prisoner of Prophetic Hope I have a few opportunities for you. In a way to publicly own this grief we feel, use 5 Calls to contact your senator about HR 1689. It is a recent bill that passed the House with bipartisan effort, House Resolution 1689 which determines the Temporary Protected Status of Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

    The second opportunity is on July 22nd from 9-11 there is a protest at the Central Corrections Facility of Northwest Ohio which is now contracted as an ICE detention center. I will be there, reach out and I’d love to have you with us. Finally, It is crucial now, more than ever we show up to support our LGBTQ+ siblings.

    To close, I want to leave you again with words from Bishop Barber, because we can be the hope that is missing in the world. “When the rejected get together they can in fact redeem America from hate and discrimination… when all those hands get together and when the rejected join hands our togetherness becomes the instruments of redemption.”

    Amen.

  • Henrietta Butler

    Henrietta Butler

    A few months ago my wife, child, and I took a little jaunt to New Orleans to visit some family that has lived down there for a long time. It is a trip we try to make every 18 months to two years, and this time it just happened to coincide with New Orleans Jazz Fest where Jon Batiste was closing down Friday night. It was a great time, I got to see almost a full set of The Dirty Dozen Brass Band in between getting snacks and drinks. By the time Jon Batiste was getting ready to go on, our almost four year old was cooked, and I took him back to the house. While I love Batiste, it was my wife’s bucket list item to see him play jazz fest. It was a trip that was hard at the start, but was incredibly enjoyable by the end.

    Whenever we go somewhere, I know there will be downtime in the middle of the day while those two nap to run out and check out something I know others either won’t want to see, or is just too off the beaten path. For this trip, my main goal during this limited time, was to see the Whitney Plantation Museum. Plantations are not places I have ever had any interest in visiting, I do not care for Gone With the Wind, or the revisionist history that white southerners have spent so much time trying to cover up. The whole idea of a tour being focused around the big house makes my skin crawl. So when I read Clint Smith’s book, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, and his chapter on the Whitney Plantation, I knew I had to try and see it.

    What sets the Whitney apart from other places like this, from their website, “Whitney Plantation is a non-profit museum dedicated to the history of slavery, situated on a historical sugar, indigo and rice plantation which operated from 1752-1975.” Their focus is strictly on the the lives of those enslaved, which was genuinely breathtaking, tear inducing, and uncomfortable which is perfect for every white person that walks those grounds. One thing that surprised me, aside from how stark the big house was (no decorations, no furniture, just there as a reminder which was 10/10), were the carved statues of children all around the grounds.

    When you check into the tour, you are handed a lanyard that has a name and picture of one of these statues because they are real people with real stories about being enslaved. During FDR’s time in office, he pass the New Deal, a sweeping group of legislation from 1933-1939 that was designed to help lift this country out of the Great Depression. One of the projects that came from it was the Work Progress Administration (WPA), and journalists like Zora Neale Hurston, and others were sent out to record the accounts of those formerly enslaved. From those records, the Whitney pulled names, and on the back of the lanyard was written part of their story.

    Henrietta Butler, around 80 years old when she gave her testimony, is who was on my lanyard. Her testimony is held on record at the Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Watson Memorial Library, in the Cammie G. Henry Research Center. The section of her story that is on my lanyard, which lives in my office, states:

    I’se 80 some odd years ole, born at LaFourche. I was born in slavery. I’se not ashame’ to tel it either an’ knows somethin’ about it.

    My damn ol’ missus was mean as hell; I know ever; night I had to wash dat ol’ woman’s foots an’ rub dem ‘fo I could ever go home to bed…they made my ma have babies all de time.

    She was sellin’ the boys and keepin’ the gals.

    If you are interested in reading some of the slave narratives from the WPA, you can access it online through the Library of Congress by clicking here. I cannot recommend visiting this place of history enough. Pick up Clint Smith’s book, read up on the Whitney, and friends, do your part to make sure nothing like this happens again. The 13th Amendment still allows slavery via the prison industrial complex, and those siblings who have been wrongfully or correctly imprisoned deserve the dignity they inherently have. Families are still being torn apart, I encourage you to contact your reps so that we do not find ourselves replaying this history. When we start to dehumanize our fellow image bearers, it becomes easier to think we are above “them” which we are not.

    Grace and peace.

  • Broken Clocks

    Broken Clocks

    Imagine my utter surprise when I get a news alert about something Ohio Governor Mike DeWine says, that I not only agree with, but am actively championing. Per our local paper, The Toledo Blade:

    COLUMBUS — The state of Ohio should end the death penalty, Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday.

    “I no longer believe that the death penalty is a deterrent,” Mr. DeWine said during a news conference at the Riffe Center. “The moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists.”

    The governor said the Ohio General Assembly should take action to end capital punishment.

    “If the legislature does not want to make that decision, they can leave it up to a vote of the people of the state of Ohio,” Mr. DeWine said.

    The fact that Gov. DeWine is calling for this is proof that no matter what, if you’re open, you can change. I appreciate that as for part of my life, I was a death penalty purist, if you did the crime worthy of it, your life is forfeit.

    During the first year of marriage, my wife and I were reading Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s book, New Monasticism: What it Has to Say to Today’s Church. A former friend and colleague had recommended it to us as we were interested in the movement, and I will never forget how challenging the chapter on the death penalty was. Through many drives from Chicago to Toledo, we had argued and discussed it ultimately landing on, who are we to say when God is done with someone.

    Today, the day that DeWine has come out against the death penalty should be one we remember. On June 16, 1944 George Stinney Jr. was executed via the electric chair in Columbia South Carolina. It was alleged that he murdered two white girls, and this poor 14 year old Black child, was tried, convicted, and sentenced in one day. Then, 82 years ago today, he became the youngest confirmed person to be murdered by the state in the 20th century America. George Stinney’s case was reopened, and in December of 2014 he was vacated of the crime due to new evidence.

    Per the Equal Justice Initiative, an incredible organization founded by Bryan Stevenson, 202 people have been exonerated and released from death row since 1973, and 1,661 people have been executed in the U.S. since 1973. This means for every eight people executed, one person on death row has been exonerated. The odds are too high to not do something about it.

    As the old adage goes, broken clocks are right twice a day, the same can be said of politicians, and today is one of them.

    Ohioans, call your reps and ask them to support Governor DeWine’s push to abolish the death penalty in Ohio. You can find your State House Rep here, and your State Senator here.

    Grace and peace.

  • Ignorance Personified

    Ignorance Personified

    In 1966, my father was walking with my grandfather from their car to one of the libraries in Dayton Ohio. While they were in route, my dad looked over and saw a group of people he didn’t recognize. So he asked my grandfather, “dad, why are those guys walkin’ around in nothin’ but their bed sheets?” The way my dad tells it, my grandfather shook his head and responded with, “Mike, that right there, is ignorance personified.” As the story goes, the white supremacists were showing up in hopes to intimidate the Dayton School Board to cave to their wishes. I was in early high school or late junior high when my dad told me about this, and it something I will never forget.

    How my grandfather described the ku klux klan in those two words has latched on to my soul, and has shaped my implicit bias when it comes to white supremacy. Anyone who thinks they are better than someone else, that has to “other” a fellow human based on the color of their skin is ignorant. However this description doesn’t pertain to just white supremacy, but it is a great encapsulation of the concept of bullies as a whole.

    It is not hyperbolic to say that we are living in a time where white supremacy is being enforced in ways two generations have not seen, but if we had only listened to black women and had taken them seriously it could all have been avoided.

    Like most decent people, I have been feeling a mix of speechlessness, disgust, and dismay with how this current administration has carried itself for the past year and a half (as well as the first four years of it). Not because I am shocked by anything they have done, for over a decade those of us who have been paying attention and doing the work have been told we are overreacting. So while sitting with this puddle of emotions I started a new book that is uncomfortably relevant. Last year my wife read, A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them, penned by Timothy Egan, she told me I needed to pick it up, and I finally did. It is about the rise of the KKK in the early 20th century focused on Indiana, and it touches on how it shaped membership, American policy, and the murder of a young woman. Yesterday I was reading when I stumbled upon this little section:

    To the major victories of outlawing alcohol, disenfranchising black voters, and closing the door on most new immigrants ,the klan now hoped to set up a parallel government in the capital just as it had done in Indiana. The other goal was to prohibit the teaching of evolution.

    The klan backed a law in Tennessee that made it a crime for a public school teacher to explain any theory that denies the story of divine creation of man as taught in the Bible. The fear was that if evolution were accepted it would imply that all people have a common origin.

    For the klan that meant that there was no fundamental difference from themselves and the race they pretend to despise.

    I added the underlining in the quote above, but today people are still pushing klan ideology. None of this should be surprising, considering the moral majority and religious right were born out of the racist gripe of not wanting to integrate schools. Vouchers, and school of choice became the voice of this version of christanity before Roe v. Wade would be a glimmer in their eye. For myself, this is part of what makes the voter suppression and rights stripped over the past few weeks so hard to stomach.

    In 2021 Georgia passed SB 202, which changed early voting, and prohibited anyone other than poll workers from handing out water, which is what many of us call voter suppression. As mentioned previously, the past week we have seen what remained of the Voter Rights Act of 1965 stripped away. In that time, the states that originally voted against this act, have responded quickly with suppressing black voices by gerrymandering new maps. All decent people watching this happen in real time are reminded how deep white supremacy runs, and how much it ruins. What our current Supreme Court has done to this country is not only disgusting, but continues to prove white supremacy is alive and well in the halls of “justice.”

    However, upholding white supremacy in these halls is nothing new, so why are we surprised when they come after the rights of people of color. The truth is, what is happening now is breaking norms we naively thought would not be undone. Did we worry about it? Absolutely. Did white people take seriously the concerns of people of color when it came to what was on the line for the past decade? Absolutely not. For over a year we have been living with the domestic terrorism that the federal government has sanctioned when it comes to the disappearance of citizens and migrantes. It reminded me of another passage from Egan’s book:

    The klan would be a major force at the national conventions, no one onboard… doubted that the future of the country belonged to an organization of shrouded men clinging to the past.

    The fight over the last decade from the “America First” crowd has led us to this moment where the lives of our neighbors have been disrupted and destroyed by men in masks who are being led by others clinging to the past. Egan wrote in his book about the state elections that occured in just barely 100 years ago in Indiana that resulted in, “hundreds of small ways these [klan] loyalists could make life worse for those who were not white Protestants.” For years we have been seeing people say the quiet part out loud, and in reading that line I was disgusted by how relevant it still is. What is happening in Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, and other southern strongholds to suppress black and people of color’s voice right now is exactly why we must not remain silent.

    The reintroduction of Jim Crow voting districts, and the stripping of rights by christian nationalists, and others, does not reflect the values of Jesus. Groups like this do not want Jesus, because to follow him means to seek out the other and care for them. To be a good neighbor does not mean to have a mirror image next door, it is to welcome the diversity that makes all of us better. It is to say no to ignorance and yes to curiosity. It also means to practice the paradox of tolerance that Karl Popper made famous. This act where your society remains intolerant of the intolerant, by stamping out hate speech or othering, and uprooting white supremacy wherever it tries to flourish.

    I know that I am not the only one who feels the weight sitting on their chest about what is happening right now in the United States, and it feels like nothing can be done. We are not alone, and we can do many good things together, we just need to be brave and curious. This is a time to make our voices heard, one way is to follow this link to 5 Calls. It will take you to their, “Protect the Right to Vote and Fair Representation” page where you can call your representatives and ask them to support fair voting rights. Get friends together and turn it into a party, you’d be surprised to find out how much easier it is to do this with a crowd of those you love and trust.

    My friends, it is up to us to carry on this work, and I am asking you to do your part in this peacemaking. Non-violence resistance has worked in the past, and it will continue to work if we remain steadfast and curious.

    Grace and peace my friends.

  • Wake Up Sheeple

    Wake Up Sheeple

    Hey, I am back after a bit of some time off. It was nice to take a short break from writing a few times a week and to observe Lent, Easter, and a bit of vacation without having to worry about this.

    Now I’m back on my bullcrap, and today’s post is brought to you by John 10:1-10:

    John 10:1-10

    Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

    So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

    The parable found here should give us pause and time to reflect because of how relevant Jesus’ teachings continue to be in our world. While I am sure we can all think of times when we have been involved in a conversation or situation where one of us is thinking, “there is no way this sibling in Christ reads the same Bible I do.” This has happened to me probably more times in the past 11 years than the rest of my life combined.

    As I was reading and preparing for my noonday prayer service, two verses struck me which are, “the sheep follow him because they know his voice” and “they will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

    For a few moments I just sat staring out the window, because all I could think of was, “this is the gap of the Gospel, and people who are stuck on the idea that it is woke propaganda.“

    In an interview with NPR in 2023, Russell Moore, Editor and Chief of Christianity Today stated the following on the crisis of Christianity in these churches:

    It was the result of having multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically in their preaching— “turn the other cheek” —[and] to have someone come up after to say, “Where did you get those liberal talking points?” And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios when the pastor would say, “I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ” would not be, “I apologize.” The response would be, “Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.” And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus are subversive to us, I think we’re in a crisis.

    In his book, John’s Wisdom, theologian Ben Witherington writes:

    John 10 it appears, in fact that we are dealing with two parabolic images that have been combined here, one having to do with Jesus ads the good shepherd, and one having to do with Jesus as the door, or gate, for the sheep. (pg. 187)

    Witherington goes on to write that:

    It should be seen from the general tone of this material that this teaching is directed to a situation where there are competing claims about who is the true leader and way for God’s people…

    …this material does not suggest a purely defensive and in-house situation (a flock is being raided by outsiders, but suggests competition for the same sheep and a situation where Jesus and his followers are still reaching out for “other sheep” not of his fold. In other words, it will not do to interpret this material without due attention to its missionary overtones. (pg. 188)

    Christian nationalism has ripped the mask off of the nice white gospel in a way that has not been seen or at least felt this public, since the Civil Rights era. When John writes about the confusion of the listeners, it is not so hard to believe how true it rings almost 2,000 years later.

    When we are wake up to accepting our place in God’s family, we are called to give up some things, usually revolving around our ego. Not that we cannot use our talents, but I am thinking more about how we feel when there is a clear line drawn between us and the “other.” How we give into the class system that keeps our collective humanity separated, and the need and want to drive down “others.”

    My friends, may we realize that there is a better way, and that as we shepherd others, we continue to not hop gates, but to seek learning and understanding from the one who reminds us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

    Grace and peace my friends.

  • It is Never Too Late

    It is Never Too Late

    Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and thus begins the season of Lent. It is with this in mind, I’d like to share with you something I wrote last year. On January 29th of 2025, I riffed off of First They Came by Lutheran Pastor Martin Neimöller. It is probably something you are familiar with, whether your know it or not, it reads as follows:

    First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

    Pastor Neimöller’s words have been echoed in many places since he wrote it. It is one of those quotes that I thought I knew the history of, but in reality applied my own ideologies to. I was surprised to find out when I was reading up on Pastor Neimöller that he was a supporter of the early n*zi party. Not only that, but, he had remained silent on how the party operated early on because they were going after the left and leftists. He didn’t feel the need to speak up about it because he did not agree with their politics.

    This may sound or feel familiar for some of you, if not now, perhaps in the future.

    It was not until Hitler came for the Lutheran Church in Germany did Neimöller start to wake up. He had helped formed a group called the, Emergency Pastor’s Group, to help confront some of these issues. Because of the state of Germany, it was believed by the group that the protestant faith could only be compromised that someone could be in the n*zi party. The two were not compatible.

    This may sound or feel familiar for some of you, if not now, perhaps in the future.

    As we stared down the start of a second Trump administration, and the ramp up of the familiar hatred that defined his first term, I sat and Neimöller’s words. It isn’t perfect but it captured my fear of the moment, a fear that has continued to be re-enforced.

    First they came for the undocumented and other immigrants. We didn’t speak out because we thought our privilege protected us.


    Then they came for those on the margins. We didn’t speak out because we thought our privilege protected us.

    Then they came for the LGBTQIA+ community. We didn’t speak out because we thought our privilege protected us.


    Then they came for the allies. WE didn’t speak out because we thought our privilege protected us.

    The last year has seen undocumented, legal, and American citizens who are immigrants disappeared by ICE.

    The last year has seen the criminalization of our unhoused and friends via the Ending Crime and Disorder on American Streets executive order.

    The last year has seen the almost complete dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion, not to mention the roll back of civil rights era legislation has been nothing short of monstrous.

    The last year has seen false information about our trans siblings being spoken from the highest ranks of government, the attempt to throw out Obergefell v. Hodges, and many more targeted acts of legislation state and nationwide.

    My friends, it is time, like Pastor Neimöller, it is time to find your voice. With tomorrow being Ash Wednesday, and the start of Lent, I pray you meditate on this.

    If you are interested you can read more about him here.

    Grace and peace.

  • The Salt and Light in Your Own Darkness

    The Salt and Light in Your Own Darkness

    The Gospel of Matthew’s recount of the infamous sermon that Jesus gives is my favorite. While it shows up most notably in Luke as well, it is in Matthew that I find my connection. It may be because when I first started reading the Christian Bible, I started at what I thought was the beginning, the New Testament, which starts with drum roll… the Gospel of Matthew.

    I only started referring to people as “salt of the earth” consistently a few years ago. One of my co-workers says it all the time about people she adores and has stuck through osmosis. These are the people that make me want to be a better, and more consistent presence in my life. It is such a weird tension to hold right now, trying to be the salt of the earth as the world is falling apart around us, and I mean that, almost quite literally.

    I am not just talking about the genocide still happening in Gaza, Palestine, Sudan, Myanmar, the Uyghurs in China, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The political violence we have seen in America over the past 10 years continues to rise to a crescendo with ICE abducting people off the streets and disappearing them to what an Irish immigrant referred to as a modern-day concentration camp. Not to mention murders of Alex Pretti, Renee Nichole Good, Gerardo Lunas Campos, and Keith Porter.

    The fact that all of this has this has led into the newest 3.5 million documents of the Epstein files that have been released, with still millions of pages to go has been more than overwhelming. Jeffrey Epstein has had his hand in more things that have shaped the United States in the past decade than anyone outside of his circles could have imagined. And it is horrifying. Absolutely horrifying. The cache of information that has come out about what he, other celebrities, politicians, and wealthy people have done to children, if 5% is true, should be enough to make every decent person in this world cry out in terror. It has been so disturbing following this story, I almost took out the prayer in the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation that I updated which reads, “The lust which dishonors the bodies of men, women, non-binary, and children, God Forgive.”

    So, when I sit and think about all of this, a very small portion of what is happening in our world right now, to think of being the salt is a bit overwhelming. Something that has helped recently I found few weeks ago, when I was reading the Essential Writings of Brother Roger of Taizé. On page 33, I came across this quote of his,

    “… always keep in mind that you are advancing with [God] toward the light, even in the midst of your own darkness.”

    The light that we shine forth, that we are not to hide in the bushel is helping light my way in my own darkness. It is helping me remember that salt we are supposed to be isn’t table salt, it is, for me supposed to be course, course and in your face. It is the kind that is brought out by the kitchen and given table side. It is what you see sitting on top of your meal that bring a blast of flavor. It is the people who continue to do their good works in a time of despair, as if it is water off their back.

    It is seeing the weight of the world, and saying to yourself, I think I can bring some flavor to this bland story that keeps being repeated throughout history.

    It is the same example of Jesus bringing liberation, and hope to the masses of people who are being held in oppression by the state.

    It is the story we find ourselves in the midst of now.

    It is who we are called to be in this world, now more than ever.

    My friends, may you find the salt around you, and if you can’t, please remember that the salt may be you.

  • The Cooperation Package

    The Cooperation Package

    This is an Ohio specific post.

    Yesterday Ohio Republicans in the State House unveiled what is called the, Cooperation Package, a list of bills that would create wider support for ICE and dole out harsher penalties for those helping or who are immigrants, which you can read about here. Rep. Josh Williams, who reps district 44, is the lead co-sponsor of the package. 

    Even if he is not your representative, you can still call and leave a message with his office about how you feel on these bills. Here is his number, I encourage you to call, because these bills go against our baptismal covenant as we continue to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. Here is a script you can use if you have never left a voicemail:

    Hello, my name is [your name here].

    I am calling to voice my opposition to the Cooperation Package, specifically HB 26, 200, 281, and 554 introduced on February 9th. As an Ohioan I ask that you withdraw your support from these bills as they go against any sense of decency. These bills are intentionally cruel and is not what Ohio stands for.

    Thank you for your time.

     [your name, phone number, and zip code]

    His office number is 614-466-1418, and to call and leave a message, it takes about 60 seconds. If you would like to call your reps to let them know how you feel about this bill, you can do so by scrolling to the bottom of this website, putting your address in, and pressing enter.

    Below is a list of the bill numbers and summary provided by Channel 6 of Columbus:

    • House Bill 26: Mandatory Police Cooperation. It would prohibit local governments from enacting “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration officials. The legislation mandates that all law enforcement agencies in Ohio comply with detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It explicitly removes the discretion local departments currently have to prioritize other public safety issues over federal civil immigration violations. The bill includes an emergency clause, meaning it would take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature, bypassing the standard 90-day waiting period. Municipalities that fail to comply could face significant reductions in state funding.
    • House Bill 200: State Felony for Presence Modeled after similar efforts in Texas. House Bill 200 would make unauthorized presence in Ohio a state crime. 
      Under the proposal, an individual found to be in the state without legal documentation would be guilty of a fifth-degree felony. This provision would grant local and state police the authority to arrest individuals solely on the basis of their immigration status, a power traditionally reserved for federal agents.
    • House Bill 281: Hospital Access Perhaps the most contentious measure in the package. House Bill 281 Would require hospitals and mental health centers to grant federal immigration agents access to their premises for enforcement operations. Healthcare providers who refuse entry to agents could face penalties, including the revocation of state grants or Medicaid funding. 
      Opponents, including the Ohio Hospital Association, have previously warned that such measures could create a public health risk by discouraging undocumented residents from seeking care during emergencies.
    • House Bill 554: Obstruction of Justice. House Bill 554, expands the definition of obstructing justice under Ohio law. 
      The bill would make it a felony to physically impede or interfere with federal immigration agents during the performance of their duties. This could include actions such as blocking doorways or intervening in an arrest, elevating what might currently be a minor offense to a serious state-level crime.

    Our neighbors are relying on us to stand up and do what is right. I urge you to take a minute your of your day and call.

    Grace and peace.

  • Jude, the Saint of Despair

    Jude, the Saint of Despair

    John 15:17-27:

    Jesus said to his disciples, “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

    “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world– therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

    “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.”

    Saint Jude is the patron saint for lost causes, impossible situations and despair. It is a hard time for those of us who don’t believe empathy is a sin. When holding all that has happened in Minneapolis, thinking about Keith Porter Jr being murdered by immigration customs and enforcement, the horrific details in the newly released Epstein files, I needed to think about, and create space for despair for a bit.

    When I read this Gospel passage, which is specific in the lectionary to St. Simon and St. Jude (who both share the martyrdom on 10/28), it really had my mind going. See, when I read of Jesus in this passage talking about not being of this world my context, historically, of this passage is much different than what I believe now.

    For a long time I feared the idea of the day of judgment, specifically because of the language around it. I grew up around the apocalyptic concept of fire, brimstone, etc., but then I found out that apocalypse literally means uncovering in Greek, as in, learning something new. When I found this out, I dove deeper into the Jewish roots of Christianity. Because of this new information, I was deeply curious about what this day of judgment would mean. After some time, I became much more comfortable.

    The idea of the day of judgement, is the work of God setting things right, the way they were supposed to be.

    It is creating justice in an unjust world, and for those of us who seek justice, who seek the safety of others, who seek after the words of Jesus, it really isn’t a scary thing. Sure, there are aspects of our lives where we are continuing to hone and align the way we believe with how we live our daily life, but on the whole, the setting of things in their correct manner shouldn’t be that scary.

    When we strip down the concept of wanting to live in a world where everyone is safe, no one has to worry about food, healthcare, being othered, bombs, and genocide as seen in Sudan and Gaza to name a few. These things that make us feel fear in our daily lives, these systematic issues that cause us to live into despair. As I sit with this, I feel connected to the despair that St. Jude is the patron saint of. It’s not hard right now to let those feelings consume us, but cynicism is easy.

    Then I remember, despair is easy.

    Hope, love, and taking care of one another in community is hard.

    It takes bravery to love someone.

    It takes bravery to stand up for someone.

    It takes almost nothing to cast someone aside, and not only deny their humanity, but the image of God that is interwoven through their very being.

    So when I read and sit with the part in Luke where Jesus says, if the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you, my mind goes to the lie that is christian nationalism. Those I have heard prosecution stories loudest, come from those that uphold white Jesus. And we know that they cannot be the people Jesus is talking about here.

    May you find some hope in these words my friends.

    Grace and peace.

  • The Weight of No

    The Weight of No

    One of the first books I finished this year In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri Nouwen, and while it is a short book, it may be one of the most impactful I have read in years around leadership. This is something that should not have surprised me consider who Nouwen was, when he was still walking this world. A man born in the Netherlands, became a Roman Catholic priest, taught at Notre Dame, Harvard, and Yale for over twenty years, but walked away from the prestige to serve at L’Arche’s Daybreak Community in Ontario.

    In this book he writes about the shared life, humility, and importance of walking the downward path in leadership. Now, I am not a fan of leadership books, and I have been through my share of programs that seem to be a one size fits all. But this book, in the less than 120 pages, packs more moments where I have sat back in silence than all other leadership books I have read combined. His entire life was rewritten during his time at L’Arche, and this book is one of the the results of that transformation.

    What I consider the incredibly important parts of this book, are broken up into a three sections. I phrase it like that because of course there is a conclusion, and while it is helpful to read, you could stop there. The three sections are as follows:

    1. From Relevance to Prayer
    2. From Popularity to Ministry
    3. From Leading to Be Led

    All of these sections are obviously impacted by the previous one, but what is so interesting about how Nouwen sees the world and this type of leadership, is how it should be pulling us downward, and not in a bad way. My concept of leadership in the church has been tainted by the evangelical money making house of cards it has always been. So to say leadership can be a motion downwards, feels antithetical to what it means to be a good leader. But what Nouwen latches on to, is that relevance for the sake of relevance, and the idea of entrepreneurship or silo ministry, this chasing of saying yes to what is happening now could be pushing us further from the presence of God in our midst.

    The weight and power of saying no in ministry is not something that should be overlooked. We live in a society right now where the news cycle changes almost hour by hour, and the fears that are ratcheted up continue to find no ceiling. This can create an environment where we must say yes to everything, in order to not get lost in the shuffle, but Nouwen in this book invites us to a deeper sense of knowing. Not just knowing who we are in the family of God, but who God is calling us to be in our context and strength.

    It wasn’t until the end of this book where I felt Nouwen succinctly formed his argument about not going alone, and standing where your call is at in order to lead people into the next age. He writes:

    Christian leaders have the arduous task of responding to personal struggles, family conflicts, national calamities and international tensions with an articulate faith in God’s real presence.

    They have to say no to every form of fatalism, defeatism, accidentalism, or incidentalism that makes people believe that statistics are telling us the truth.

    They have to say no to every form of despair which human life is seen as pure matter of good or bad luck.

    They have to say no to sentimental attempts to make people develop a spirit of resignation, of stoic indifference in the face of the unavoidability of pain, suffering, and death.

    To say no in the face of fatalism, defeatism, accidentalism, incidentalism, despair, luck, resignation, indifference, pain, suffering, and even death pushes us to a radical limit.

    To say no to how the world would normally respond is to say yes to hope. What I am not saying is that we should ignore the pain, consequences, etc. that come from these instances. I am not saying that at all, recognize and hold it.

    To say no to it is to reject the acceptance of it, it is to say yes to the accountability of the people around you, and to seek justice for those who have been harmed.

    To say no is to hold fast to Jesus teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, and to elevate ourselves past what is popular, and plant ourselves into what is everlasting.

    To say no is to shake off the burden of societal expectations, and to say yes to a deeper way of being.

    Grace and peace my friends.