Conservative Evangelicals Need to Lay Down Their Fear of Being Called Liberals and Dare to Stand For Mercy.

December 5, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

This morning, I read a piece about the Eric Garner case that summarized well something that holds a lot of us as evangelicals back from speaking up on issues of social justice and mercy. The post is called “I Can’t Breathe. But I Must Write.” [NOTE: For some reason, the hyperlink function is not working properly. Here’s the direct website: http://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/12/04/i-cant-breathe-but-i-must-write/] It’s written by David Murray, a conservative pastor, professor, and author who describes himself as “a conservative of the... Read more

Bad News/Good News: Ebola and Jesus the Healer

December 5, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of November 26, there had been almost 16,000 cases of Ebola worldwide in the current outbreak; there had also been 5,689 deaths. If someone catches Ebola, they have a 1 in 3 chance of dying of the illness. The disease has ravaged West Africa, often taking the most vulnerable. The medical care available to the average West African is abysmally poor. On October 22, Reuters reported: Liberia, which is still struggling to... Read more

The Missionaries and Medical Workers Who Treated Ebola Patients Should Be Our Models for Christian Discipleship

December 3, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Editors’ Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Heroes of 2014. Read other perspectives here. Of the ten people treated for Ebola in the United States, five were serving as Christian missionaries in Ebola-affected areas, and at least three others were also Christians. Additionally, 70% of the ten Ebola patients treated in the U.S. were missionaries and medical workers whose Christian faith led them to take on the burden of risk to personal safety and health, a punishing work load, and... Read more

In a Year of Bad News, What Would Good News Look Like?

December 2, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

As 2014 comes to a close, I am mindful of the onslaught of bad news that has afflicted our world this year. Ebola. Abuse of women and children. Respected leaders being revealed as abusers. Violence in the Middle East, Iraq, Ukraine, South Sudan. An airliner disappearing into thin air. Another airliner shot out of the sky over Ukraine. Mass shootings. The suicide of a prominent comedian. Leaders who cannot seem to set aside their differences for the sake of service... Read more

Thankfulness in the Darkness Too

November 26, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Thankfulness is not the same as positive thinking. It is living with open hands, mask removed, accepting what is given in the moment with humble gratitude. I am still learning this, and once I barely knew it at all. In the midst of deep anxiety and depression as I served my two-point rural parish, constantly worrying if I was doing enough, if I was giving the church their money’s worth…feeling stuck deep inside, paralyzed and alone…feeling a longing to stay... Read more

After the Decision in Ferguson, White Evangelical Christians Need to Do a Lot Less Talking and a Lot More Listening.

November 25, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

The heart of the black community in America was broken last night. The offense was not just a Missouri grand jury’s decision with which many disagreed, but the way in which the decision was handled. The multiple points of trust being broken down over and over and over again. The supposedly secret grand jury testimony being leaked in order to bias the public toward Officer Darren Wilson and against Michael Brown. The release of a sensitive ruling late at night... Read more

When Drama Is Our Only Language, We Become White Noise and People.Stop.Listening.

November 24, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

I don’t know about you, but I am getting tired of having the same old conversations with people on the internet. We all know our lines, our parts in the play. We never switch it up. We just tumble around the same circles over and over. Often, we get outraged over minutiae instead of focusing on really egregious injustices. And as we react instead of respond to each other, we get more and more outraged at each other. We get... Read more

Bill Cosby and Father Figures: What Do We Do with Our Shock and Dismay When Our Heroes Fail Us?

November 20, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

I was several months pregnant with my first child, a daughter–and scared out of my mind. I’d always struggled with whether I would make a good parent. Growing up, I had a broken family, with all of the complication and pain that goes along with such an experience. I was struggling to visualize what family health looked like. I was wondering if I would go on to repeat the mistakes of my family of origin. I was wondering what “another... Read more

Somm: A Documentary about Wine, Meditation, Culture, and Community

November 17, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

Documentaries are a gift because they open our eyes to worlds that we would have no access to otherwise–only to find how many similarities we share with their subjects. As the closing credits roll, we leave with more knowledge and more empathy and more insight than we had previously. Stories of real people resonate with real life. One such documentary is the gently-paced Somm (2012), the story of a handful of candidates who are preparing for the Master Sommelier exam.... Read more

Follow-up on “Why Christians Should Stand Up for Atheists”

November 13, 2014 By Rebecca Florence Miller

What a week it has been. Last week, an atheist Patheos commenter asked me if to publicly advocate for atheists to have equal rights (Lark62, you know who you are!). I expected a few naysayers, a few supportive folks, and maybe a decent amount of traffic. I wasn’t prepared for the massive, palpable response. The Secular Outpost blogged about my post with some very kind words and added: In addition, her article serves as a useful reminder that all of... Read more