Red Letter Christians's articles General Christian The Calling of Transformation Several years ago, I was teaching a range of classes on film analysis and directing. During that time I heard an interview with a well-known Hollywood film director. The topic was the plot lines of films. He emphasized that, when you look closely, you’ll notice that every film is about the same thing; transformation. The key characters […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 26, 2021July 26, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian The Racist Policing of China and the United States If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,” will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know—Someone not impressed with weak excuses. (Proverbs 24:11-12, the Message) Due to strict media control and extreme oversight by the Chinese government, the reports of Uighurs being systematically interned and forcibly placed into […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 23, 2021July 23, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian Evangelicals Dangerous Understanding of Jesus What did social justice mean to Jesus? A clear-eyed reading of the gospels reveals that it meant to be more equitable access to wealth, resources, security, authority, and power. The gospels portray relief for the impoverished masses in Israel to be his primary concern. We know this because he spoke about poverty and the impoverished […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 21, 2021July 21, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian Announcing a Season of Non-Violent Moral Direct Action Since Republicans in the Senate locked arms to block debate on legislation to protect voting rights, the folks I look to for moral leadership in the public sqaure have been getting arrested in Washington, DC. First, it was Rev. Jesse Jackson and Bishop William J. Barber, standing with poor and low-income people from Appalachia who […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 19, 2021July 19, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian The Uncomfortable In-Between I first saw children picking through trash in India. Two boys stood in a parking lot, amidst a thirty-foot by thirty-foot collection of colorful litter thick enough to hide what was underneath it. Eight cows foraged next to them, looking for leftover food. The boys, about eight and ten years old, were collecting recyclables, working […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 14, 2021July 14, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian Mother Earth Has Suffered Enough: We Need Stronger Methane Rules Recently, I testified for a public hearing on a proposed methane rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. I shared that I am a Dine woman from the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico, governance chair for United Methodist Women’s national board, and former tribal Prosecutor for the Navajo Nation. I testified on behalf of […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 13, 2021July 13, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian Violence & Victory The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) understood that in order to seek justice we must lay down the idol of victory. The second of their 10 commandments says, “Remember always that the non-violent movement seeks in Birmingham justice and reconciliation—not victory.” Scores of us who follow Christ applaud this statement. But it takes […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 11, 2021July 11, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian 3 Roots of Discrimination in God’s Church You may be surprised what people deem as secular society is not where I’ve experienced the most discrimination as a person who is differently abled. Whether it was dark years facing not getting a ministry job due to my speech and body impediment or receiving hurtful patronizing remarks about my disability by well meaning Christians, […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 10, 2021July 10, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian To Get Our Nation Back On Track, We Need A ‘Holy Recovery’ As I look at the status of our nation today, with families struggling to make ends meet and being denied fair wages, I’m reminded of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “audacity” to believe in a future where everyone has enough. It’s a deeply biblical vision. In one of the most famous stories in the Bible, word […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 9, 2021July 9, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian Blessing a Cultural Threshold A threshold is not a simple boundary; It is … a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. This is one reason such vital crossings were often clothed in ritual. John O’Donohue, To Bless The Space Between Us If the poet philosopher John O’Donohue were still alive, […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 9, 2021July 9, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian The Religion of Jesus Over the past several years Howard Thurman’s writings have deeply impacted my spiritual life and have helped me see a more complete picture of the human experience, particularly in how our inner landscape interfaces with how we interact with the world around us. I recently read his book Jesus and the Disinherited. I found myself pouring […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 6, 2021July 6, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked General Christian Walking in the Shadow Soft, billowy clouds danced across the expansive Midwest sky near the farm where I grew up. They were mesmerizing. As children we studied them to see if they resembled a dog or pig, or maybe grandmother leaning over her hot stove. These intriguing clouds beckoned us to see, conjecture, wonder. Sometimes though, when hot and […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 6, 2021July 6, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked Loading Load more
General Christian The Calling of Transformation Several years ago, I was teaching a range of classes on film analysis and directing. During that time I heard an interview with a well-known Hollywood film director. The topic was the plot lines of films. He emphasized that, when you look closely, you’ll notice that every film is about the same thing; transformation. The key characters […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 26, 2021July 26, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian The Racist Policing of China and the United States If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,” will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know—Someone not impressed with weak excuses. (Proverbs 24:11-12, the Message) Due to strict media control and extreme oversight by the Chinese government, the reports of Uighurs being systematically interned and forcibly placed into […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 23, 2021July 23, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian Evangelicals Dangerous Understanding of Jesus What did social justice mean to Jesus? A clear-eyed reading of the gospels reveals that it meant to be more equitable access to wealth, resources, security, authority, and power. The gospels portray relief for the impoverished masses in Israel to be his primary concern. We know this because he spoke about poverty and the impoverished […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 21, 2021July 21, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian Announcing a Season of Non-Violent Moral Direct Action Since Republicans in the Senate locked arms to block debate on legislation to protect voting rights, the folks I look to for moral leadership in the public sqaure have been getting arrested in Washington, DC. First, it was Rev. Jesse Jackson and Bishop William J. Barber, standing with poor and low-income people from Appalachia who […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 19, 2021July 19, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian The Uncomfortable In-Between I first saw children picking through trash in India. Two boys stood in a parking lot, amidst a thirty-foot by thirty-foot collection of colorful litter thick enough to hide what was underneath it. Eight cows foraged next to them, looking for leftover food. The boys, about eight and ten years old, were collecting recyclables, working […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 14, 2021July 14, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian Mother Earth Has Suffered Enough: We Need Stronger Methane Rules Recently, I testified for a public hearing on a proposed methane rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. I shared that I am a Dine woman from the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico, governance chair for United Methodist Women’s national board, and former tribal Prosecutor for the Navajo Nation. I testified on behalf of […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 13, 2021July 13, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian Violence & Victory The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) understood that in order to seek justice we must lay down the idol of victory. The second of their 10 commandments says, “Remember always that the non-violent movement seeks in Birmingham justice and reconciliation—not victory.” Scores of us who follow Christ applaud this statement. But it takes […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 11, 2021July 11, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian 3 Roots of Discrimination in God’s Church You may be surprised what people deem as secular society is not where I’ve experienced the most discrimination as a person who is differently abled. Whether it was dark years facing not getting a ministry job due to my speech and body impediment or receiving hurtful patronizing remarks about my disability by well meaning Christians, […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 10, 2021July 10, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian To Get Our Nation Back On Track, We Need A ‘Holy Recovery’ As I look at the status of our nation today, with families struggling to make ends meet and being denied fair wages, I’m reminded of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “audacity” to believe in a future where everyone has enough. It’s a deeply biblical vision. In one of the most famous stories in the Bible, word […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 9, 2021July 9, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian Blessing a Cultural Threshold A threshold is not a simple boundary; It is … a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. This is one reason such vital crossings were often clothed in ritual. John O’Donohue, To Bless The Space Between Us If the poet philosopher John O’Donohue were still alive, […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 9, 2021July 9, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian The Religion of Jesus Over the past several years Howard Thurman’s writings have deeply impacted my spiritual life and have helped me see a more complete picture of the human experience, particularly in how our inner landscape interfaces with how we interact with the world around us. I recently read his book Jesus and the Disinherited. I found myself pouring […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 6, 2021July 6, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
General Christian Walking in the Shadow Soft, billowy clouds danced across the expansive Midwest sky near the farm where I grew up. They were mesmerizing. As children we studied them to see if they resembled a dog or pig, or maybe grandmother leaning over her hot stove. These intriguing clouds beckoned us to see, conjecture, wonder. Sometimes though, when hot and […] Written by Red Letter Christians July 6, 2021July 6, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
