The most helpful creatives among us know this truth by painful experience: Our selfishness never helps us. It, in fact, has the opposite effect. When individual rights seem suspended, the idea of the “greater good” takes a back seat. For my Christian friends and family, the ethic of taking care of your neighbor divides our churches and our homes. Wearing a mask has become a violation of rights to some rather than a symbol or method of safety. Closing businesses upends livelihoods and shatters dreams. Disrupted worship services keep us away from the fuel of our faith and fellowship of our friends. We don’t walk this life alone, and this pandemic keeps us alone. Selfishness is a powerful tempter. And, at the moment, we are vulnerable to its seduction. My feelings are important, but how about the health of my loved ones? In LA County, our health officer’s life has …
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What if the enemy in the pandemic was the cause of the pandemic, the coronavirus Covid-19? What if we could lay all our anger, grief, mistrust, and fear in the direction of this invisible-yet-deadly foe? Every one of us is a potential target, from Libertarians who squirm at their local pub being closed to businesswomen who had to layoff their treasured friends and employees. The virus succeeded in wholesale disruption, denying school kids their dreaded fifth period and terrorizing parents who love their kids but cannot change diapers while simultaneously presenting a Zoom call for work. Disruption goes deeper than lifestyle interruptions. Life itself is threatened as thousands experience a violent, ugly, and lonely death. No one is immune, literally–at least we are not sure of that yet. Is the virus an enemy? If true, why not blame the virus for all that befalls us? We could sell coronavirus targets …
Immigration and racism: People win as we apply “survival of the weakest”, not “fittest”
The church season of Epiphany contrasts our darker nature reflected in the recent words from our president about immigration. As a Christian, true religion is more about the “least of these” than the great, powerful, and rich. There is nothing profane about having privilege. What is offensive to the Gospel is the dehumanization of the vulnerable people in the world–be they from Haiti, El Salvador, or Africa, or even Norway. Our president at this moment appeals to the darkest parts of our human nature. This nature blames the blameless. It shames the shameless. The darkness of this type of power shreds the bonds that even Christians should have for one another. The survival of the fittest is not a biblically solvent idea but is indeed a potentially genocidal policy. People win when we apply a “survival of the weakest.” This is what Jesus Christ modeled for us. [bctt tweet=”What is …