* A prayer at the beginning of an immersion on the border of the United States and Mexico. You are God. You are Dios. You are Allah. You are Jah. You are Adonai. You are the queerest of them all. You are the God beyond our borders. You are the God beyond God. You choose to join us here. You choose to be the God who is with us. You leave your family to seek a better life.... Read more
J: What is injustice? C: Injustice is oppression. Oppression is violence created to keep us in isolation from each other. Injustice hinders us from living into the beloved community where all have the opportunity to be in their fullness. What do you think? J: Injustice is the incorrect ordering of God’s creation. Where does injustice come from? C: Injustice stems from the belief in scarcity. Scarcity is the belief that the beloved community will never fully... Read more
I struggled to garner the courage to write this piece. I am a part of a progressive world that teaches people to stay in their place or face the consequences. The difficulty of such constructions is that there are times when we all need to speak. I am a follower of Jesus and that means I am called to stand with the oppressed and marginalized irrespective of their identity. For the last week, I have been immersed and... Read more
* This interaction is derived from a recent conversation that I had with the Rev. Dr. Garth Baker-Fletcher at a rehabilitation facility where he is recovering from hip surgery. A retired professor, Baker-Fletcher is the author of Somebodyness: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Theory of Dignity (1993), Xodus: An African-American Male Journey (1996), My Sister, My Brother (with his wife Karen) (1997), Black Religion After the Million Man March (1998), Dirty Hands: Christian Ethics in a Morally Ambiguous... Read more
C: What is death? J: Death is a lie. The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate definition of death. Like a lingering sickness, death afflicts us until we succumb to it and realize that ultimately the full manifestation of the sickness is the healing. Our healing is found in our resurrection. However, there is no such thing as resurrection without death. I feel very comfortable standing with the Apostle Paul on this one, “Where is death’s sting?” How... Read more
Growing up, our church loved to talk about the end of the world. From pew to pew, everyone believed that they would be saved from the destruction to come. I didn’t know for sure. I had doubt. Downtown, a man held a sign high into the air, “The End is Near.” I was terrified. I thought I was going to get left behind. When we got back home, piles of clothes haunted me. Every time I saw the assortment... Read more
* This interaction is derived from a recent conversation that I had with Rev. Dr. Garth Baker-Fletcher at a rehabilitation facility where he is recovering from hip surgery. A retired professor, Baker-Fletcher is the author of Somebodyness: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Theory of Dignity (1993), Xodus: An African-American Male Journey (1996), My Sister, My Brother (with his wife Karen) (1997), Black Religion After the Million Man March (1998), Dirty Hands: Christian Ethics in a Morally Ambiguous... Read more
The Vision Blindness/Can you see me? Fear/Can you see me? Pain/Can you see me? Terror/Can you see me? Death/Can you see me? Consciousness/Can you see me? Hope/Can you see me? Vitality/Can you see me? Life/Can you see me? For thine is the way and the truth…///and the life? Amen. Read more
“How dare you insinuate Jesus had a vagina!” The woman was livid. In my talk, I stumbled on the most disturbing idea she’d ever been presented with. With church doctrine and dogma over the centuries in mind, the thought of Jesus having a vagina didn’t seem too out there for me. Since the earliest days of the church, haven’t Christians believed that Jesus was fully human and fully divine in every sense of the words? “So you believe that Jesus... Read more
J: Do you remember a place called Eden? C: Growing up in a context where the Bible was considered infallible, inspired, and fully authoritative, I remember beginning every Vacation Bible School (VBS) with the story found in Genesis. Where did you first come in contact with Eden? J: I don’t feel like it has ever left us. I feel it in my fingertips. I know it in my soul. The entirety of my being yearns to return... Read more
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