In the High School Sunday School class, we are spending part of the fall semester talking about the relationship between faith and politics.  The hope is that we could create a space for the high school youth (and the teachers) to process and think critically about the politically charged atmosphere we are living in right now.  We have undertaken this series with the assumption that a relationship exists between faith and politics, but also with a recognition that this relationship is understood and practiced in many different ways.  Some of the questions we have been and will continue to live with during these class sessions include: – What does it mean to be political? – What is the role of the Church in public life? – What are some moral political issues and how are these influenced by our faith? – What is the kingdom of God and how does

  In the third edition of their classic book, Racial Formation in the United States, Michael Omi and Howard Winant characterize our present era as that of “colorblindness.”  They trace it back to the early 1970’s as a response to the Civil Rights advances of the 60’s.  As a racial ideology, colorblindness “repudiated the concept of race itself.  In certain respects, the concept of race ‘neutrality’ already does that ideological work.  To dismiss the immense sociohistorical weight of race, to argue that it is somehow possible, indeed imperative, to refuse race consciousness and simply not take account of it, is by any rational standard a fool’s errand” (p. 220). To claim to “not see race” can have noble intentions.   At its best, colorblindness seeks to claim our common humanity, to proclaim that skin color is merely that, skin color, and confess that underneath the veneer of difference we are all

I’ve been invited to be on the launch team for the new Herald Press book Very Married: Field Notes on Love and Fidelity, by Katherine Willis Pershey.  Being on the team basically involves getting a free pre-release copy of the book, reading it, writing a (honest) review, and spreading the word.  The book is officially released next week, September 27, and is available for pre-order at Amazon HERE.  Here is my review. ————– Very Married is a deeply personal book about a deeply personal subject.  It’s a book about marriage, but also a book about a particular marriage – that of the author and her husband.  It takes its title from a quote by Audrey Hepburn who once said, “If I get married, I want to be very married.”  The quest to be very married, despite the difficulties of marriage, is a thread that runs throughout. The book itself grew

  This Sunday for the sermon time I’ll be having an interview/dialogue with Malik Moore.  I met Malik back in June at a Race and Justice event hosted by First Unitarian Universalist.  We were both a part of a break out group discussing how faith communities might engage the issue.  We’ve since met for coffee and had a number of phone conversations and email exchanges.  Professionally, Malik has served as the Executive Director of YMCA of Central Ohio and is currently focusing on diversity and inclusion work. As we talked about this Sunday he encouraged me to encourage the congregation to watch THIS 18 minute TED talk by Verna Myers called “How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them.”  A diversity trainer herself, Myers begins in a confessional tone by telling a story about becoming conscious of a bias she didn’t know she had.  While on a recent flight

The other day I read this quote that got me thinking about our racial justice work: “If there aren’t babies and grandmas, it’s not my revolution.” I have heard from a couple of parents in the congregation that their children are beginning to pick up on the conversations we are having about race and are asking some really thoughtful questions.  All of us have children in our lives in some capacity, so how can we all equip ourselves to talk with children about race?  How can we be ready to answer those tough questions or respond to honest comment that sometimes just spill out of their mouths?  I think we are doing some really great work to bring adults (and grandmas) into the conversation, but how do we help create a movement that includes children (and babies) too? As someone who interacts with children and babies only a couple times