dirty water
I guess we add Flint, MI to the list.
According to local officials, about 40% of residents are below the poverty rate. Fifteen percent of homes are boarded up and abandoned. Weaver says the city of 100,000 doesn’t even have a grocery store. And now its residents don’t have clean water either.
Welcome to America.
“I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.- Amos 5:21-24
I hate, I despise your rhetoric. I take no delight in your protest of using lands that you don’t own. Even though you tithe you withhold basic resources to whole cities to save a penny, I will not accept them. Your desire for peace is twisted by your desire to be comfortable, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your segregated Sunday service. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, that my creation in Flint, MI might have clean water.
(Source: CNN)
caring for refugees
Praise God! The evangelical church continues to grow and learn that silence is not the answer, that political affinity is idolatrous.
Critical moments like these are opportunities for us to be like Jesus, showing and sharing his love to the hurting and the vulnerable in the midst of this global crisis. Thus we declare that we care, we are responding because our allegiance is to Jesus, and we seek to be more like him, emulating his compassionate care for the most vulnerable.
May the church continue to pledge allegiance to Christ and not to political leaders, to the Kingdom and not to America, to love and not to fear-mongering.
colombian human trafficking
Lord, I bring before you the people of Colombia. I pray for the healing of the land, that women and children being trapped in sex trafficking will come to an end. I pray for the families, torn apart by kidnapping or even by betrayal. How can an uncle, father, brother sell their own niece, daughter, sister into slavery? Lord, where is your justice?
I pray that you show mercy and love to your daughters; I pray that my brothers and sisters in Christ in Colombia would not be afraid to speak out and display love. I pray for the women who have been exported globally, that they would be reached out to in their own language and experience your healing and love. I pray that great reconciliation could come for these women.
May you bring the traffickers to repentance. May you bring the sex tourists to repentance. May you bring the government to repentance. May your glory and power be made so evident.
Some resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Colombia
https://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/report-reveals-extent-of-human-trafficking-in-colombia
intervarsity: black lives matter
I am, beyond proud, to be a part of an American Christian organization and movement that is willing to make a statement in light of God’s power and not stay silent. We must all count the cost to following after Jesus – for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, it was making the statement and claim that “black lives matter, too; black lives matter, finally” in front of over 16,000 student and ministry leaders, live broadcast to thousands more, by a black woman with full permission to bring her culture and prophetic voice as she lovingly called the American church to repentance. The result was loss of money and support from former major donors and supporters of the ministry. The result was joy and tears as people came to repentance. The result was the explicit welcome and love expressed to fellow black brothers and sisters. The result was a watershed moment for American protestant evangelicals.
I praise you, Lord! How thankful I am that I got to stand on holy ground, to be a part of this sacred moment.
The video of the talk by Michelle Higgins can be viewed below:
weekly justice
2016.
A new year, a page turned. Lord, will you return?
Each week this year, I will highlight prayers answered, unanswered injustice. Let us pray and hope for more restoration. Let us celebrate that which has been reconciled. Let us not ignore but mourn and grieve brokenness.
Lord, your will be done, your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel
Over 2000 years later, our Savior would still be born in the midst of oppression, gate checks, needing to show papers to government officials. In the celebration of His birth, let us not forget our Palestinian brothers and sisters who live in fear and occupation.
(Source: The Huffington Post)
"LORD JESUS CHRIST our Refuge and Deliverer, Who as a child sought refuge in Egypt while fleeing from those who would persecute and harm You. Remember those today who must flee in the same manner, and find themselves in foreign and strange lands, granting them your Presence, your protection, and your provision. Illuminate us to be a shining light upon a hill amidst the dark evil in our world, that we may do our part with hospitality and resources, and that all who are refugees might be led to the brightness of Your redemptive love made present by Your glorious Incarnation, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen."
— The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach
Archbishop and Primate
Anglican Church in North America
(Source: anglicanchurch.net)
living wage in action
You can pay a living wage and not only survive, but thrive.
So many deemed Dan Price a demagogue. Others called him a visionary. He is asking the right questions. The fundamental assumption is that work is a necessary component of human life. The fundamental question: how should work be valued?
Dan Price made a decision that the work is valuable because the worker is valuable. How long has it been deemed that output determines value? Our world has been driven by the idea of progress – but of what worth is progress without humanity?
If we are in the business of redeeming work, let us remember that our value comes from the Creator. In this, we should focus on how our brothers and sisters might live rather than whether they deserve it for the answer is simply: “love your neighbor as yourself.”
For Dan, it was reducing his own pay as CEO from over $1 million to $70,000. It may have seemed like a poor business decision, but it was a great Kingdom decision and it is certainly paying dividends.
moment of reconciliation
This was a beautiful moment.
1. Two white state troopers took down the flag, slowly, deliberately – showing deference to a long, broken past, acknowledging the need for reconciliation.
2. They handed the flag over to a black state trooper, giving over the history and power.
It could have been anyone taking down the Confederate flag, but the imagery of the sons of former oppressors taking it down and handing the power over to a son of former victims is powerful. Reconciliation begins with acknowledging the problem and continues with surrendering.
sidenote: I use former oppressors and victims not to say that the white state troopers had family directly involved in oppression or to say that black people still do not experience oppression.
lies.
you say you see me
but you aren’t even looking
I walk past with a hoodie, you see thug
I pull out my wallet, you see gun
I do anything, you see blood
lies.
you say you hear me
but you aren’t even near
empty voices crying out for justice
falling onto curbs of concrete jungle
you come closer at the sound of destruction
lies.
you say you feel me
but you aren’t me
I have born your burdens for centuries
I have built your country from scratch
yet I still cannot exist
lies.
I exist
- simply as a fragment of my own imagination
I’m dead
- that’s a reality you’d sooner face then me
I approach, you cower
I walk with dignity and grace
because you have no power
I am the oppressor
you are the victim
of lies.