Dear [White] Church, Allow Your Hearts to Be Uncomfortably Broken
Dear [White] Church, Allow Your Hearts to Be Uncomfortably Broken Pain is a meeting place with God. It is a place of the truest honesty. Pain is not a mistake to fix. Healing rarely comes without pain. A broken heart is always a beginning. This pain is a beginning or this pain is a…
Dear Church, Open Your Eyes to Racism
Dear Church, I write to you to admit my own blindness as a white woman to our history of racism and the harm that has been done and continues to be done to our brothers and sisters of color. I encourage us white folks to support one another as we open our eyes to these…
Dear Church, I Write to Share a Recipe for Gumbo!
Dear Church, Given America’s polarized divisions, it’s time to make gumbo! As a proud native of New Orleans, I have absolutely no reservation in sharing that gumbo is my favorite food on the planet. I love the shrimp. I love the sausage. I love the chicken. I also love the okra. Gumbo brings diverse ingredients…
Dear Church, I Can’t Hear You
Dear Church, Hello! Are you there? A social awakening is happening outside the walls of your well-constructed edifices. Do you not see it? Your people are hungry for change, yet you are earnestly trying to return to what once was, instead of embracing what is. In the spirit of returning to a sense of normalcy,…
Dear Church, Injustice Incurs Judgment
The sin of injustice has marred the history of the United States of America. The blood spilled from the bodies of people of color, the blood of men, women, and children, and the blood of the poor and weak have for centuries cried out for justice from this country’s soil. The genocide of Manifest Destiny, the horror of the Atlantic slave trade, the fires of Tulsa, the tragedy of Japanese American internment camps, and the lynch mobs of the South all testify against this country. They bear witness to the fact that this country—this empire—has grown and flourished through the exercise of injustice. The testimony of the Christian Scriptures affirms that injustice incurs judgment.
Dear Church, Reconcilers Have to Reconcile!
For many years I believed my hope and my identity depended on how hard I worked for the body of Christ. But not in the 1 Corinthians 12-way, one body many parts, but in the way where we strive for perfectionism and create unhealthy habits looking for approval from man. After years of striving to…
Dear Church, God Bless America
Unclench your fists. Hold out your hands. Take mine. Let us hold each other. Thus is God’s Glory Manifest. “Epiphany,” Madeleine L’Engle Dear Church, God bless America? Really? Tragically, our most recent Epiphany marked the day of clenched fists, angry mobs, and the thunderstorm of violence by white supremacists upon the US Capitol. January 6th…
Dear Church, Rest with Jesus
Dear Church, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or…
Dear Church, I’ve Been Avoiding This Conversation With You
Dear Church, I separated myself from you in late 2012. Until this summer, I had not stepped foot in my home church since November of 2013. I jokingly state that I anticipated catching fire upon entry, but thankfully I departed uncharred. When I last spent time in church in 2013, it was for a funeral.…
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