Roots: A Communal Journal

"Not by might, nor by power, but by my...actually, scratch that. Sometimes, you just have to take power and get stuff done," says the Lord. "I, Paul, determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified...actually, that would never work. Forget that I ever said that." "If anyone would follow me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and...you know what? What would that even accomplish? I'm sorry. So impractical." Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, was like, "Yes! Finally. I get to call the shots and get stuff done!" Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword back in its...well, you know what? Go ahead use that thing to get stuff done!" Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Peter took him aside and rebuked him. And Jesus repented, saying, "You are right Peter, what was I thinking? W...

[ Photo Credit: JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images ] I think it is fair to say that many of these Lansing "protesters" have convinced themselves that they are the heroes of their own story. You can see it throughout their public statements—they are constitutional champions, protectors of patriotism, legends of liberty. They are, in their own stories, the difference between keeping and losing the republic. Of course, they're wrong. These "protesters" are throwing a very public temper tantrum. With their rifles and respiratory particles, they are recklessly endangering themselves, their comrades, and the brave public servants facing them nose-to-nose. And of course, they are flaunting their ever-apparent white privilege.  To be frank, this selfish and senseless superhero complex is the predictable result of how many of us white folks grow up. And if we (white people) want to confront this protest, we have to confront that reality.  Think abou...

[  Photo by Joshua A. Bickel / Columbus Dispatch via USA TODAY NETWORK ] As I process the COVID-19 protests that have been occurring all around the nation, I cannot help but reflect on the "rights" for which these protests are taking place. I am convinced that there is a part of this nation that has come to treasure a certain pathology around individual rights--well, at least for certain people. And while that pathology stemmed from genuinely good ideas, over time, it became poisoned by other toxic aims and mutated into an obsessive, greedy, destructive individualism that cannot see or value interdependent community. It is why virtually any time we are forced to answer for the ways our personal behaviors impact that community, so many of us instinctively answer with fragility, anger, terror, and cries for "freedom!". And I know all of this because I come from that community.  When you combine that pathology with a church that has, for over half a cent...