Reflection Roundup: Challenged and Changed

Each week we gather news stories, notable pieces, and other important items for Christian leaders today. As always, listening broadly draws together differing perspectives from which we can learn but may not concur. Here are 10 things worth sharing this week.

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1. “A child will lead them” rings true once again as readers have the privilege of sitting at the feet of America’s youth while they express, with wisdom beyond their years, hard truths and serendipitous revelations the last year’s pandemic has uncovered in their lives. “In words, images and video, teens across the United States show us how they have met life’s challenges” in the curation “Teens on a Year That Changed Everything.”

2. “How ironic that 20/20 is also a term for perfect vision.” Adam Daniels writes “The Long, Slow Death of the Christian Peacemaker” for Mosaic, proposing we can learn from trading places with what we perceive as our opposition. In this wise trade in perspectives, we may find we really are not all that different. “When you make perfect understanding and agreement a requirement for fellowship, you’ve traded the religion that attracted natural enemies like tax collectors and Zealots alike for something else. Real and lasting change, as we learn from the cross, never happens from a position of power.”

3. Thomas Merton “would be willing to go to the heart of the matter in a way that doesn’t focus on him,” Sophfronia Scott writes for Christian Century, illuminating Merton’s offerings on race in “I want to talk to Thomas Merton about race.” “The repercussions of that treatment reverberate for everyone, to the detriment of us all.” Merton’s 1963 essay, “The Black Revolution: Letters to a White Liberal,” quoted in the article, succinctly summarizes the truth.

4. “What Do I Do About Racism‪?” Zane Witcher of Highland Church of Christ hosts the Onto Somethin’ podcast, Episode 37 of which contains Zane’s own vulnerable confession and some practical steps he’s begun to employ after listening to Jesus on the topic. Witcher recommends Jemar Tisby’s How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice, saying that “where other authors have left us a trail of bread crumbs to follow, Tisby shares the whole loaf,” giving all of us some real chewing to do.

5. Have you ever felt a struggle to convey with words the beauty of Christ’s sacrifice when trying to explain substitutionary atonement? Martha Tatarnic in “Why I’ve come back around to substitutionary atonement” confesses how her own words “weren’t landing” on a topic central to our understanding of salvation. Reading one person’s reworking of her own systematic theology offers a timely and fresh opportunity to look at the pathway to life that Christ’s resurrection offers us all. Tatarnic’s real-life stories of radical love put skin and bones on what God truly offers us in Christ. May we be “even better relatives than many who are related by blood, because [we have] been bought at such a price,” and may we remember the suffering of Jesus is “part of the life of God.”

6. “Thanks to COVID-19.” Who ever thought we’d be saying that? We have relearned in living color the truth “that the church is not a building.” “A Simpler Church” is a good place to be as “small gatherings have become a big deal in the lives of many Christians during the pandemic, serving as vital sources of connection as houses of worship have closed their doors.” This article offers many perspectives on what is going on in different parts of the country and how folks might hold onto the best practiced lessons of this difficult time.

7. In a 2019 article “Challenging White Jesus: Race and the Undergraduate Bible Classroom” (PDF), ACU professors Amanda Jo Pittman and John H. Boyles address how they bear the burden of “faithfully and critically shaping students’ encounter with the New Testament,” and the ways our tendency to read “white Jesus” into the text affects students’ experiences. “Using survey data collected from students at the beginning and end of their first year at a Christian undergraduate institution, we tested our theory that race/ethnicity was a persistent factor in student experience.” Read their pertinent findings and implications for instruction.

8. A simple, quiet prayer… “Lord of My Greatest Fear.”

9. Belmont United Methodist Church in Nashville and friends have generously prepared a contemporary powerpoint slideshow “Stations of the Cross 2021: Sharing Space With Christ” for shared use, particularly during Lent and Holy Week this year. “This virtual prayer walk provides an opportunity to pause, ponder, and pray while you reflect on Christ’s journey and your own journey during this time of isolation and suffering.”

10. Needing a retreat? “From isolation to invitation: A two-week guide for retreat in a time of quarantine” warrants exploration. An offering of SentWell, a pastoral sending/receiving/refreshing ministry located in Spain, this solitary retreat reference, which can be experienced anywhere in the world at any time, contains a prompt for morning prayer, midday reflection, and evening examen, 14 in total. In a dry land, this is living water for a thirsty soul. It may just serve these last few weeks of Lent.