I have spent a few days thinking about Pastors for Texas Children generally and this meeting in particular. My thoughts and spirit has consistently been transported to this vision of standing up. What does it look like to stand up? What does it look like to have courage? We have many churches represented and many denominations represented here today…but I think that there is one thing that all of the gathered can agree on. I think we can all agree... Read more
I grew up on the Southside of Atlanta. Our county transitioned from a majority white context to a majority black context in my youth. In first grade, I was a student under Ms. Ellington…the first black teacher at Lake Harbin Elementary School. I will be forever grateful to Ms. Ellington for teaching me about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In January of that year, Ms. Ellington chose me to recite Dr. King’s speech at the March on Washington. ... Read more
Baptist Christian Ethicist Glen Stassen died today after a battle with cancer. We only spoke once. The conversation occurred after I sent him the following email on September 5, 2009: Dr. Stassen, My name is Jeff Hood and I am a ThM student at The Candler School of Theology at Emory University studying Christian interaction with social movements. I am currently enrolled in a doctoral seminar entitled 20th Century Christian Social Ethic with Dr. Elizabeth Bounds. I am... Read more
Maren Sanchez was stabbed to death today a few days after turning down a fellow student’s invitation to the prom at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Connecticut. The incident happened less than 25 miles from the site of another school massacre…Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. The killers in both instances had a primary motivation…hate. Unresolved anger pushes us to hate which often pushes us to violence. In Matthew 5, Jesus treats murder and anger as equal... Read more
There is danger in forgetting. There is also danger in remembering incorrectly. The tragic systematic genocide of six million persons of Jewish descent has filled most of our thoughts and history books concerning the Holocaust. The arrest and systematic murder of tens of thousands of homosexuals has not. The German government did not acknowledge and apologize for a systemic murder of homosexuals during the Holocaust until 2002. There is danger in forgetting. There is also danger in remembering incorrectly.... Read more
I have known many Easters. I remember one Easter morning as a child realizing Jesus quite literally loved us to death. I was overwhelmed by the enormity of such love. Later that same day, I looked up at a depiction of Noah’s Ark and thought that this Jesus of love sounded much better than the God that destroyed the world with the great flood. The conclusion was simple for me. I loved Jesus and Jesus loved me. The more... Read more
Lately, I have had a lot of time to think about borders and boundaries. I am a doctoral student at Brite Divinity School and I was sitting in class last spring…and in this class on immigration we began to talk about the end game. What is the end goal? I raised my hand and said, “Can we imagine a world where there are no nationalities…where there are no borders…where there is simply us?” From their response, you would have... Read more
When Jesus declares I was in prison and you did not visit me…and goes on to declare what you have done to the least of these you have done to me…Jesus directly binds his passion with the passion of those in prison. It is important to notice that Jesus does not say I was not guilty and in prison and you did not visit me…rather Jesus binds his self to all who are in prison. In the midst of this... Read more
I have my fair share of enemies these days. I have found that the longer I work as both an activist and a pastor the more enemies I have. I hear lies. I experience violence. I interact with evil. In these experiences, I have discovered something surprising…my salvation. The scriptures tell us to love our enemies…if you think about your enemies as your neighbors then we are to go a step further and love our enemies as our... Read more
The children walk down the aisles of our churches waving palms all around. Together, we reenact the celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Palm Sundays are always festive times. Everyone knows that the next time they gather it will be Resurrection Sunday and Jesus will have won a great victory over death. The problem is that no one wants to walk through where one has to go to experience a resurrection…the darkness. I won’t say that resurrection celebration without... Read more
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