The-ones-about-Christmas
Dear kids: What you need to know about Duck Dynasty, Justine Sacco, and Christmas by Ann Voskamp. “Whoever said sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you? Was dead wrong. Ask a bearded guy from Louisiana or a tweeting PR exec en route to Africa to comment on that. Don’t ever forget it, kids: There is nothing more explosive than words.”
Me and the oldborn king by John Blase. A beautiful poem about the steady pursuit of God.
Rethinking the nativity by Rachel Pieh Jones. “We want to make the birth of Jesus as hard as possible, as cold and lonely and desperate and painful as possible. Why? Is it because we can’t grasp the infinite coldness, loneliness, desperation, and pain of what the incarnation truly meant? We wrap it up in dirty clothes and stinking animals, in physical loneliness and fear. Is our feeble attempt at re-imagining the Christmas story our way of trying to understand, to put images and emotions to something so powerfully and deeply beyond our comprehension? To bring the miracle of God-made-flesh into our realm of understanding?”
Christmas is cross-cultural by Christena Cleveland. “Our Christmas celebrations often turn us culturally-inward. We focus on our biological/cultural families, our traditions, and exchanging gifts with those inside our social circles. These things are great! But if we truly want to commemorate the Incarnation, we must turn culturally-outward. We must follow our great High Mentor – and leave our cultural enclaves in order to inhabit each other’s stories this Christmas.”
The-ones-about-mustering-up-courage
Oh, Honey! Come Here, I think your privilege is showing by Osheta Moore. “Since I wrote last on racism, privilege, and diversity, I’ve had several white bloggers, most of them happen to live or come from the South say to me, “I really want to talk about this but I don’t think I have the right to, I mean…I’m white”. To which I say, because you’re white, you need to talk about it.”
Father’s heartbreaking journey after losing his wife post childbirth. “”I wanted to take this thing that happened to me, this really, really awful moment in my life, and turn it into something beautiful so that [Maddy] could look back and see the love story of my time with her mom. And my love story with her,” Matt says. “There’s two different love stories there.”
Guy brings his white girlfriend to a barber shop and gets hated on by eBaum’s World. Watch this remarkable video on how people respond to racist statements about an interracial couple.
The-one-that-made-me-grin
America’s longest-married couple to celebrate 81st anniversary. Their secret? “We have watched the world change together,” said John Betar. “The key is to always agree with your wife.”
The-ones-about-Nelson-Mandela
Dear Mandela, the only way I know how to walk now is long and free by Idelette McVicker. “I can be, because Mandela has been. Strong, proud, wise, graciously forgiving, tenacious for freedom.”
On Nelson Mandela, Jesus, and Our Sanitized Stories by Hannah Heinzekehr. “Nelson Mandela was a great man and a great leader. This is true. But as I watched all the coverage surrounding his life and death, something struck me. I was struck by how quickly we humans can tend to sanctify and sanitize a person and their story. I was not alone in this observation. Shortly after his death, The Daily Beast ran an article entitled, “Don’t Sanitize Nelson Mandela: He’s Honored Now, But Was Hated Then.”
10 Human Rights Activists who made 2013 a better year for humanity. “Our beloved Nelson Mandela once said that, “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination.” As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Human Rights Day today, let’s celebrate 10 individuals around the world who are living by Mandela’s words and helped make 2013 a better year for humanity.”
The-ones-about-Jesus-being-white
Fox news host Megyn Kelly tells Kids: Jesus and Santa are both white guys. No wonder my daughter thought even Jesus was white…too much Fox news for her? 😉
Call Jesus white? Expect a big fight by Edward J. Blum. “All the chatter about Jesus being white (or not) shows how much America has changed. There used to be “whites’ only” restaurants and schoolrooms. Now, even Jesus cannot be called white without repercussions.”
Insisting Jesus was white is bad history and bad theology by Jonathan Merritt. “If the Bible is silent on the matter of Jesus’ skin color, does it really matter that Megyn Kelly says Jesus is white? Yes, actually.”
Jon Stewart’s reaction = priceless.
Popular-ones-on-BW
When even Jesus is white. “Those blasted colonialist publishers who had to go and make Jesus look just like them – they were fully responsible for my child feeling on the outs.”
Dealing with anger in race relations. “I have often heard people of color express a similar anger toward the inequitable system that keeps racism alive and kicking, but living with my non-white family in a majority white setting made my experience with anger and race take a new turn. The longer we lived there, the harder it was for me to assume good-intentions when the bad-actions were so obvious. Over time, I grew angry with white-people myself.”
Iceberg concept of culture. “In intercultural relationships, simply talking about some of the rules guiding the unspoken and unconscious rules of culture brings a new level of awareness in understanding how to relate to one another.”
between worlds 