We All Lose Hope – Jan. 12, 2020
“Dear Child of God, I write these words because we all experience sadness, we all come at times to despair, and we all lose hope that the suffering in our lives and in the world will ever end. I want to share with you my faith and my understanding that this suffering can be transformed […]
Carriers of Love – Aug. 31, 2020
“We always talk about Black suffering… But we never see Black people as carriers of love. We see them as carriers of pain. We see them carriers forever, you know, 400 years of suffering. But not 400 years of fierce love.” –Nikky Finney, “I Come from Love.” Poetry Off the Shelf (podcast)
To Take Up Your Cross
Today’s passage from Matthew* has often been understood as a call not to life, but to resignation: suffering is all, and the proper response is gritting teeth and bearing pain proudly to pay God back for God’s love. Fake it if you have to, imitate, but keep your joy at bay. As my father was […]
Among the Suffering – July 1, 2020
“I’ve never fully understood how Christianity became quite so tame and respectable, given its origins among drunkards, prostitutes, and tax collectors… Jesus could have hung out in the high-end religious scene of his day, but instead he scoffed at all that, choosing instead to laugh at the powerful, befriend whores, kiss sinners, and eat with […]
