Conversations Without Fear
Listen to Krista Xiomara's interview of me on her podcast, I'm Awake Now What?
Burden
My little girl waddled into our room, climbed into bed, snuggling between my husband and me.
As I looked down at her beautiful face, I began to tear up. She is two and a half. She is innocent. She is sweet. She is sassy and sometimes disobedient. She is funny, and her smile lights up a room. When she was born, our life was full.
But this morning when I looked at her, all I saw was fear. I can't protect my daughter from the guns that fill schools. I can't keep her safe from the bullets that tear through our society, in houses of worship, bars, movie theaters and anywhere else that people congregate.
Vote
I shocked my Sunday School class when I argued that Jesus didn’t always advocate for docile faith.
He modeled compassion by healing the sick and caring for the poor. The respect he showed sinners, prostitutes, lepers, children, and women showed that he saw all people as children of God. And he commanded his followers to love all their neighbors.
Let’s Act
My family traveled a lot, often in developing countries, when I was younger. My little sister would cry when we saw children begging on the street. I thought she was crazy. I couldn’t understand why she felt so emotional about people we didn't know. I believed we were doing all we could and that it was someone else’s responsibility to end systematic poverty.
Repeat
This has been a hard week. A hard month. Let's be honest a hard year.
It feels like every morning there is another headline that breaks Jesus' heart. Another person who is spewing hate at God's people. Another person who is co-opting the Christian faith to stoke fear in the hearts and minds of our country.
Outside of the headlines, life has been tough. Living as a mom of a toddler, who works, cares for my husband and my aging father in law means living with very little margins. And yet, everything in my life clamors for attention.
I want to climb back into the covers. I want to hide away from the world.
Responding with Love
Consider this scenario: You sit down for dinner with your fraternity brothers. Just as you are about to enjoy your delicious meal, one brother plops down beside you and tells the most offensive, sexist joke about a sorority woman. There are a couple of ways you might react to inappropriate dinner-time conversation.
You stand up with righteous anger burning out of your ears as you throw your Bible down shouting, “This place is so sinful, you’re all going to burn in hell.”
You stick your head under the table to spend the next ten minutes "looking" for your cell phone while texting your staff to pray for you.
You chuckle to placate your brother and quickly change the topic. You're not sure if it's funny, but nobody likes the person who brings the mood down.
Maybe Just Maybe…
he judge Deborah is described as a prophet, a wife and the leader of Israel. Her husband is mentioned once before the writer of Judges explains the way God used her to defeat the King of Canaan. She led an entire country. She led men into battle. In her song, she sang
“Villagers in Israel would not fight;
they held back until I, Deborah arose,
until I arose, a mother in Israel.”
This badass woman rose up to defend God’s people. She led her people – which included her husband – to victory. And her story is memorialized in the scriptures.
Costume Not Culture
With Halloween right around the corner, Greeks across the country are asking this question, “What will I wear for Halloween this year?” If you are thinking about throwing on a headdress, a kimono or donning on a sombrero, it might be wise to take a second look. Here are some answers to common questions to help you navigate your Halloween costume today!
The Myth of Esther
The romanticizing of Esther helped to create a culture where women are still seeking to win men’s favor while being dehumanized, and men are given a free pass to be perverted.
The book of Esther is not about a submissive woman. But rather it is about two women who stand up to a tyrant. When we study the book of Esther, we realize that it is a story that gives all women hope.
Lament
I love praise — it fits my culture. As a Southern woman, I’ve been told not to “air my dirty laundry on the line,” and I am asked to be “nice” and to avoid making things messy. Because of that pull to create a happy community, I’ve leaned into praise. I love the order and simplicity of singing praise to the Lord.
But coming from a culture that (over)values praise, I get stuck when I hit pain and injustice. In college and the years after, I was able to push aside the pain, but with the murder of Trayvon Martin and the shootings of the unarmed black men that came after, my world broke and I did not know how to engage the Lord. My prayers of praise felt empty and disingenuous.