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Thoughts on Lent
This Lent has been a bit different. The focus for us has been almsgiving. My main text has been Isaiah 58. There is still some time left in Lent, but my big takeaway to this point: Our private piety means nothing of the goodness of the Kingdom isn’t flowing out tangibly to bring goodness and abundance to those on the…
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The canon of reading in racial justice
This past week had an optic that was stark for me. It was during the confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and the Republicans were working for their sound-bite “gotcha” moments. Senator Ted Cruz hammered away at the curriculum at Georgetown Day School, where Judge Jackson is on the board of trustees.
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Lessons from Isaiah 58
I have touched Isaiah 58 from time to time in my journal during this Lenten season. Currently, I am finding a couple of things that stand out.
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The Pilgrimage, Part 2
Part 1 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. (Ps. 84:5, NIV) We will journey to the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. Our hearts are being set on pilgrimage. I want this way set in my heart.
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The Pilgrimage, Part 1
In his book, How the Word is Passed, Clint Smith tells the stories of 8 different places in the U.S. that have been touched deeply by slavery and how those places tell the story. One place he visited was the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. It is the only plantation open for tours that takes the visitor on a journey entirely…
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Fasting and freedom
This Lent has been a challenge in my heart to not focus as much on my personal piety and fasting as it has been on setting the captive free. Isaiah 58 has been my base text. This is a note from a study Bible I reference from time to time on Isaiah 58:6. Fasting and following religious rituals will not…
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Setting the oppressed free
Is not this the fast that I choose:to loose the bonds of injustice,to undo the thongs of the yoke,to let the oppressed go free,and to break every yoke? (Isa. 58:6) Let the oppressed go free. Israel had those definitions set early in their history and it was repeated through the generations.
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Reset toward justice
Isaiah 58 will be my grounding text for Lent. I can get caught up in fasting “correctly” and making sure I do some readings. What I am challenged in this season is the walk I have in this world.
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The education we need
We need to move past defending needless monuments erected in eras that sent specific messages to formerly enslaved people. We need to understand our history more, not less. That means we deal with the power of Thomas Jefferson’s words as well as his slaveholding mentality and brutality. We need a more full education as we keep cutting history programs from…
Tag: Justice
