I saw Jesse Jackson twice before the day I met him. On Dec. 29, 1984, he spoke to the 63rd Grand Conclave of his college fraternity, Omega Psi Phi. It was held in my hometown of Louisville, Ky. and his appearance was promoted in the newspaper. So at 17 years-old I drove from where I was staying at my grandmother’s in Crescent Hill to the Galt House Hotel downtown. The newspaper didn’t mention that Jackson was the keynote speaker after... Read more
It appears ICE is coming to my city. The authoritarian Trump Administration is systematically invading states and cities with Democratic leadership and I believe the attack against Richmond, Va. is imminent. Democrats hold the offices of Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General, the General Assembly, both Senate seats and most of the Congressional seats. The first state in the nation to elect a Black governor swore in its first female governor in January. Gov. Abigail Spanberger immediately reversed the Trump-supporting... Read more
“We don’t want their kind here,” Indigenous people said when Spanish and English speakers invaded their land. The residents of Tsenacommacah shot arrows at strangers, killing Ustis Clovill, the first Englishman buried in the ground the colonizers named Virginia. “We don’t want their kind here,” Colonial America said as it became owned and operated by white men, with laws and systems designed to benefit white men and marginalize everyone else. For 375 years white men said, “we don’t want their... Read more
Twelfth Night, Epiphany and the end of the Christmas Season Christmas Day, Dec. 25, is the day Christianity shakes free of the cultural, commercial Christmas and begins the Christian season of Christmastide. The 12 Days of Christmas made popular in song aren’t the days before Christmas, they are the days after. They are a daily reminder of the constant presence of God on Earth. The Twelve Days of Christmas begin on Dec. 26 and conclude with Twelfth Night, observed on... Read more
Watch Night. Dec. 31, 1862 found enslaved Americans across the southern United States eagerly awaiting their freedom. With the stroke of midnight the Emancipation Proclamation became the law of the land in all states in rebellion. Black Americans continue to celebrate Freedom’s Eve today. In 1862, millions of American residents – not citizens, enslaved people with no rights – eagerly looked to the new year for the promise of hope. While the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to the Confederate states,... Read more
Was Jesus a refugee? Of course he was. The only reason to deny the clear Biblical message is because you don’t want to do what the Bible says. This week’s lectionary scripture, Matthew 2:13-23 occurs immediately after the magi meet and venerate the two-year-old toddler Jesus. And then warned in a dream of King Herod’s scheme, and they went home by another way. Here are the highlights: “Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went... Read more
Absurdism reaches new heights when Bill and Ted play air guitar in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, running through Jan. 4 at Manhattan’s Hudson Theater. In the roles of Estrogen and Vladimir, the current production casts Keanu Reeves in his Broadway debut and Alex Winter, known for playing Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan in three Bill & Ted movies. Beckett’s renowned Absurdist play rejects modernist theater and smashes together theology and vaudeville, spirituality and slavery, stark scenery... Read more
Have you noticed the secret symbol in A Charlie Brown Christmas, the beloved Christmas classic charming audiences for 60 years? Half the nation tuned in to CBS when the program first aired on Dec. 9, 1965. The Emmy award-winning program featured Peanuts characters Americans had come to love in their daily newspapers. Charlie Brown’s struggle with the commercialism of Christmas resonates just as much today as it did half a century ago. With messages both explicit and subtle, Linus reminds him... Read more
Confirmation bias allows us to see only what we want to see, believe only what we want to believe and reject anything that contradicts our beliefs. Confirmation bias Christians call good evil and evil good. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” — Isaiah 5:20 Confirmation bias helps us assuage uncomfortable, negative emotions and avoid the discomfort of facing... Read more
There is danger on the Jericho Road. “Who is your neighbor?” Jesus asks. “Not the illegals,” Christian Nationalists answer. We know the story of the good Samaritan. In Luke 10:25–37 Jesus shares the parable of a man traveling the Jericho Road from Jerusalem who was attacked, beaten, robbed and left stripped and half dead. First a priest and then a Levite, the two most important and highest-ranking leaders of the community, moved to the other side of the road to... Read more
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