My husband Mike has a lot of things rolling around in his head. Every Friday he does a brain dump into a list of his top 10 thoughts for the week. Here they are!
1. Spent the week at the Christian Community Development Conference in Memphis (Anita was with me). Not for the faint hearted or for those whose politics define their theology. There’s a movement of justice and mercy afoot that is challenging the status quo.
2. Starbucks red cups for the holiday season are a non-issue. Tired of the silliness inflicted on us by a very angry and not very thoughtful segment of Christianity. And amused at myself for caring about the silliness. Rationalizing my concern, however, because I really do believe we are in danger of ‘trivializing’ our faith these days.
3. If you’re worried Christ is being taken out of Christmas put Him back in by being prayerful, feeding the hungry, caring about the homeless, befriending widows and orphans, welcoming the immigrant, advocating for justice, modeling mercy, forgiving any who have wronged you and being available to those God has already laid in your path.
4. By the way take a look at # 3. These are good issues to ask of candidates you’re thinking of supporting in the upcoming election.
5.Let’s all take a deep breath and remind ourselves that the political candidate you hate the most is loved by God. Deeply. Now, think of three good ways you can pray for this person God loves but you hate.
6. I know a fair amount of people thinking about retirement. The question should be less about ‘where’ and more about ‘for what purpose’.
7. OK. 1, 2, 3… What’s your purpose in life?
8. Racial reconciler Dr. John Perkins said “I don’t want to go back to the faith of our founding fathers because then I’d have to go back to being a slave.” When we view our history through the eyes of the ‘other’ something deep and extraordinary happens to our thinking.
9. What is the impact of our theology on our friends? On our enemies?
10. Native American scholar, activist and educator Dr. Mark Charles said at CCDA2015 that “The USA is not rich and powerful because of God’s blessing but rather because of injustice and systemic racism.” That’s a mouthful folks.