United Pastoral Statement on Racism
I read the following “United Pastoral Statement on Racism” at our worship gathering last Sunday. At the time, it had been affirmed by over sixty pastors in the city of Lincoln NE—a list that grows still today.
As Pastors in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska we believe that all people are created in God’s image. However, not all ideologies are godly. Any ideology, such as White Supremacy or Neo-Nazism, which states that one person is superior to another is blatantly sinful. We call upon the leaders of our city, state, and country to take a stand against the numerous groups in Charlottesville and throughout our country who claim these evil ideologies. We will be united as Christian brothers and sisters and will be preaching that there is no room for racism at any of our churches. We pray for healing, for accountability, and that racism will be condemned by all people in our city and in this country. Lastly, we pray that Jesus’ message of loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39) would echo through our churches.
As I pointed out Sunday evening, this is only one small step. But, for the church in Lincoln, it seems to be a step in the right direction.
Christians Can’t Be Silent
Why write a “United Pastoral Statement on Racism” in response to the recent events in Charlottesville, VA?
“We’re in an age where silence communicates agreement,” Kerns said. “Christians can’t be silent.
How to Pray for Your Pastor
If ever there was an era in Christian history that believers should be committed to praying for their pastors, it is now.
How Fast Can a Fast Reader Read?
Timothy Noah, writing for Slate back in 2000:
When you factor out the amount of time spent thinking through complex and unfamiliar concepts—a rarity when people read for pleasure—reading is an appallingly mechanical process. You look at a word or several words. This is called a “fixation,” and it takes about .25 seconds on average. You move your eye to the next word or group of words. This is called a “saccade,” and it takes up to about .1 seconds on average. After this is repeated once or twice, you pause to comprehend the phrase you just looked at. That takes roughly 0.3 to 0.5 seconds on average. Add all these fixations and saccades and comprehension pauses together and you end up with about 95 percent of all college-level readers reading between 200 and 400 words per minute, according to Keith Rayner, a psycholinguist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The majority of these college-level readers reads about 300 words per minute.
I’ve always thought of myself as a slow reader. This article puts reading speed into perspective.
Unroll Me from Unroll.me
While I’ve used the Unroll.me service for a while now, its usefulness has been waning since I became a satisfied Sanebox customer.
This story along with recent efforts to cut out free services like this pushed me over the edge. I deleted my account today. Sam Biddle will show you how to do the same.
A Prayer for Good Friday
“Precious Blood” from The Valley of Vision:
Blessed Lord Jesus,
Before thy cross I kneel and see
the heinousness of my sin,
my iniquity that caused thee to be
‘made a curse’,
the evil that excites the severity
of divine wrath.Show me the enormity of my guilt by
the crown of thorns,
the pierced hands and feet,
the bruised body,
the dying cries.Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God,
its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought.Infinite must be the evil and guilt
that demands such a price.Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper,
born in my birth,
alive in my life,
strong in my character,
dominating my faculties,
following me as a shadow,
intermingling with my every thought,
my chain that holds me captive in the empire of my soul.Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light,
the air supply breath,
the earth bear my tread,
its fruits nourish me,
its creatures subserve my ends?Yet thy compassions yearn over me,
thy heart hastens to my rescue,
thy love endured my curse,
thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.Let me walk humbly in the lowest depths of humiliation,
bathed in thy blood,
tender of conscience,
triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.