-
Where is the love?
Continuing in the book of Revelation, in this apocalypse that is 2020… Here’s a pretty literal translation of Revelation 2:1-7: To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write: these things says the one grasping the seven stars in his right hand, who walks around in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: (2) I…
-
What Does Such a Moment Ask?
What Does Such a Moment Ask? What does such a moment ask of us? Kindness―maybe― but not the kind that cowers in a corner and will not articulate the jarring, rage-inducing, healing, liberating truth. Love―maybe― but not the kind that circles wagons, covers up injustice and provides protection for abusers to continue their abuse. Humanity―maybe―…
-
How Far We Were
How Far We Were I did not know how far we were from one another til 2020 blasted into light the light years that had always been between us, like a looking glass intent on showing wrinkled scars where we expected to see youth. Sometimes I wish I did not know how much we do…
-
Each one with their neighbor
Here is a literal translation of Ephesians 4:25: “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, (y’all) speak truth, each one with his/her/their neighbor, because we are members of one another.” I’m interested in the part about speaking truth, each one with their neighbor. Some translations try to make this part sound more natural in English, which is nice,…
-
Blow Up the Shelter (Apocalypse)
Thinking of the situation over the last few months with Menlo Church (see this article for what seems like a pretty reasonable summary), and also just the general tendency of a lot of church leaders to cover up things that might seem incriminating rather than actually search for truth and try to do the right…
-
These Lines
I resonated with much of Austin Channing Brown’s recent post about “unity” to her e-mail newsletter “Roll Call.” Austin encourages her readers to be aware of ways we might be asked to participate in a kind of unity that works against justice rather than for it. You can check out the post here if you’re…
-
Grace overflows into us
In a lot of translations, Ephesians 1:7-8 reads something like this: “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us” (NIV, emphasis added). When I was translating, I came up with this: “In [Christ] we have redemption through his…
-
Solvitur Ambulando
My mom introduced me to this phrase recently, and I liked it (even though it’s not Greek), so I wrote a poem about it. Solvitur Ambulando Solvitur ambulando it is solved by walking so we walked and walked and walked until we found a better way. We walked until the blood that paved our streets…
-
Making Good Fruit
Make fruit worthy of repentance…already the ax is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not make good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. -John the Baptist (Matthew 3:8,10) When I think of a truly repentant person (myself or others), I tend to think of someone who feels…