Bob's Blog

While hard to admit, my early years were ones that regarded outsiders with great suspect. ‘Othering’ was a way of life, and people were never just people; they were non-Christians, non-Catholics, and non-Italians. Blacks were inferior. Mormons were lost and confused. And anyone who didn’t measure up to my family’s standards were to be avoided. 

But what was most insidious about those years was that we were still called to be ‘nice’ to everyone, even though the niceness was disingenuous, condescending, and superficial. We weren’t mean to people . . . in fact the exact opposite – we were taught to be kind to everyone . . . but while we were respectful to your face, inside we knew that you were less. You were inferior and didn’t measure up simply because you were unlike us! You were different: and different, meant deficient! So you needed to be avoided at all cost! “Be careful of the company you keep!” “Oil and water don’t mix!” And “choose your friends better than yourself.” These were just a few of the mantras that I heard again, and again, and again; mantras that still today, I have to work hard to silence!

Sadly, the church, and the spirituality that surrounded me, only magnified these messages. “Don’t be contaminated by the world!” “Be holy, and set apart!” And “what fellowship does light have with darkness?” It was a terrible place to live; and while I was often attracted to that which was different, and that which went against the flow, I was usually made to feel that such attractions were unGodly, and contrary to Spirit’s desired work in my life!

Needless to say, when I left home for college in the big city – Washington, DC – my narrow and naive worldview began to disintegrate. Brick by brick, the wall between me and the world, began to rock! My roommate, and the fraternity that would eventually elect me president, were Jewish! My advisor was a Black man who eventually became a good friend. And my new buddy from one of my “International Relations” classes (who just happened to have a really nice Chevy Camero!) was Iranian – and this was during the Iranian hostage crisis! 

I loved listening to the Black women who taught my “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” class; and was fascinated by a Syrian professor who was constantly trying to get us to better understand the Arab-Israeli conflict, and from the perspective of the Palestineans. As far as church goes: I went to Roman Catholic mass for over a year; but then began attending a large Presbyterian Church near campus, and before long began calling it home! The people that had become part of my world were unlike any I had met before, and I learned very quickly that they were ‘my people!’ I had found ‘my tribe’ and for the first time began to realize that indeed, sometimes, things are not wrong, they are just different! And that difference is not something I need to fear or avoid! The very people I had been taught to always view with suspect, were people who bore the image of the very same God that could be found in me!

Then, as if my worldview hadn’t been blown up enough, I took a semester abroad; and Copenhagen Denmark kept me moving forward down that road upon which Washington DC had set my feet. Halfway around the world, things began unraveling more quickly and more completely than ever! Everything was new, and different, and it was all pushing my buttons. 

But by the time I returned home, I realized that there was more than one way to dress, eat, speak, think, behave, and live; and there was immense beauty in these differences! In fact, I began discovering that perhaps diversity was a very intentional part of God’s plan for creation. For just as all things exist in God, God exists in all things. Each of us bears the imprint of the Divine, and while we are certainly incomplete, each of us gives one another a glimpse into the character and nature of the Holy. And what that means is the more we are able to embrace and appreciate all the diversity in this world, the broader and more complete our image of God becomes! Which is why today, I continue to be drawn to those who are not like me: because more often than not, they reveal God to me in new, fresh, and important ways!

As different and diverse as human beings are, we have far more in common than we are different from one another. And that which we have in common, especially people of faith, is the foundation upon which God’s coming kindom is being built! This world is simply too big, and my world is still too small, for me to think that I do not have much to learn from people unlike me. And when it comes to matters of faith, and God? . . . well, how dare I ever think that I can put God in a box, and have holiness, and divinity all figured out. How dare I believe that I am always right, and that everyone else is always wrong.

The world in which we live is vast, complex, diverse, morphing, growing, moving, shifting, transforming, and varied. But it’s nothing to fear. Rather, it’s to be appreciated, and celebrated! 

This is an abbreviated version of my sermon from Sunday, February 9, 2025, and was based on a portion of Jeremiah 17, verses 5-10.

As I sat in the Starbucks just down the road from the Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia last Monday morning, surrounded by federal workers, I was stunned at the arrogance of the retiree in orange sneakers, sitting behind me.

A young Asian woman waiting for her drink casually said hello, and he responded by returning the hello, and then went on to ask her how she was – that question that we all often ask, but without really wanting an answer! We’ll this woman was a talker, so she DID answer, and then proceeded to share how hard the past week had been for her.

Now I didn’t actually hear her say the words, but before I knew it I heard orange sneaker dude say “I wasn’t raised with any of that DEI stuff! In my day, people were people! Blacks were Blacks, and whites were whites. None of it mattered!”

I looked up from my computer screen, kinda’ stunned! “Really?” I thought! “Because if ‘your day’ was here in America, anytime in the past 400 years, then you’re really showing your ignorance right now!”

You see, if Blacks were Blacks and whites were whites, then why . . .  for example, are the incarceration rates for Black weed users so much higher than for white weed users? In fact, why just last year did a justice department investigation of the Memphis police department reveal that while Blacks and whites use weed at roughly the same rate, the arrest of Blacks for possession and use, was more than 5 times higher than that of whites!

If people were people, then why is home ownership for middle class Black families so much lower than for middle class white families in this country? 44 to 65% to be a little more precise! And why is the infant mortality rate for people of color in this country more than two times as high as for our white population?

And none of it is new! It’s been like this for generations! So exactly ‘what day’ was ‘your day?’

There were actually all kinds of questions that I wanted to ask the orange sneakered  dude, beyond why he was wearing orange sneakers in the first place!  But I didn’t. I just smiled; and at one point I think I may have even chuckled out loud. I didn’t say anything because I’ve learned. I’ve learned that when it comes to our racism  . . . when it comes to Black history . . . when it comes to something like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion . . . well, ignorance doesn’t like facts! And it prefers to ignore truth. 

Now sadly, but not surprisingly, this ignorance seems to be on public display these days, for all the world to see; and in the highest offices of our land. So for the past week, in the midst of all the chaos being thrown at the American people, I’ve read and re-read Jeremiah 17 and concluded that neither Jeremiah, nor the entire nation of Judah, had anything over us when it comes to ‘parched places.’

‘Parched places’ seem to be everywhere today; and not just here in America, but all around the globe. And to be clear, they are not just the result of climate change. Humanity’s lack of care and concern for our environment may explain why the planet is heating up as quickly as it is; but parched places? . . . they exist for reasons that extend way beyond air temperature and the availability of water. Scripture speaks about parched places as those places where the justice, goodness, and beauty of God are absent. Parched places are those places where ignorance, and selfishness, where homelessness, and hunger, abound!  They are places where people are forced to live in fear, and where loneliness, violence, war, and poverty are ever present realities!

Now several prophets actually use this phrase to describe the sinful condition of their people; but Jeremiah was particularly concerned with this ungodly state of affairs. Perhaps that’s why he is referred to as the ‘weeping prophet’, because he knew, and appreciated, the depth of his people’s sin, as well as how the consequences of that sin were going to impact Jerusalem, and the entire nation of Judah! So like all the prophets, Jeremiah is calling HIS people, and ALL of God’s people, to a new way . . . to a better way. And that WAY, is one of groundedness, and growth! That is my take-away from Jeremiah 17. As children of God, we need to be pursuing both groundedness and growth, for ourselves, AND FOR ONE ANOTHER! And because of the world’s selfishness, this last part is particularly important today.

Jesus, and all of Scripture, make it clear that it is not good for us to be alone – that we need one another – that none of succeeds unless all of us succeed – and that we ARE in fact our siblings’ keepers! So why are we being told that this way of thinking is communism, or socialism . . . as if thinking about the well-being of others, or being concerned with the welfare of our neighbors, is akin to one of the most oppressive political systems on the planet! When did it become legitimate to regard caring for others, as communistic, socialistic? I thought it was just the way of Jesus!

In spite of what we are being told by the powers that be today, DEI is about being concerned for everyone in our community, especially those for who have been marginalized, and held back and down for so long. And I’m not just talking about people of color. I’m talking everyone . . . women, people who differently abled, people who may not look like us, or who have different religions! Diversity, equity, and inclusion, are all about making sure that we are on a level playing field, that everyone has a fair shot at living their best life, and that every voice in the room is welcomed and being heard!.

So blaming DEI for the plane crash over the Potomac, as if the pilot had been a man it wouldn’t have happened . . . such thinking is absolutely absurd. The assumption that only men  . . . and it’s actually usually only white men . . . are capable of doing certain jobs . . . friends, that such thinking still exists today should be the only evidence anyone needs that DEI initiatives are vital to the elimination of parched places. For bringing about God’s kindom here on earth is only going to become a reality when ALL people, men AND women, whites AND Blacks, Christians AND Muslims, straight people AND gay people, are grounded in God’s unconditional love and grace, and are given the freedom to grow in their giftedness!

In 2020 people were outraged by Black Lives Matter; and then two years later it was Critical Race Theory that was being targeted. In 2023 and 24 it was all about our need to become ‘anti-woke’; and now, all of a sudden, it’s about being anti-DEI. But in the end, the opposition is all the same – and it’s nothing more than being ‘anti-Black’! . . . which is why we in the faith community have no choice but to be very clear, that Jesus calls us to speak up, and to speak out, and reject these, and any attempt to further movements that would continue to marginalize people of color, women, or any other minority group in this country.

Parched places abound today; and so we in the Body of Christ are called to seek groundedness and growth, for ourselves AND for others. And that’s not socialism, or communism. It’s called being being humane; and it’s called being like Jesus!

DEI is not destroying America. It was not the cause of the plane crash over the Potomac. It’s not leading to marginalized people being elevated to positions that have no right being in. And it is certainly not leading to the oppression of this nation’s most privileged class. None of that is true! DEI is baked into the theology of what it means to be Christian and the two cannot be separated! It reflects the heart of Jesus because it seeks to make this world a more equitable and just place for all of God’s children; first, by grounding us in the reality that we are all dearly loved by God; and second, by growing within us the knowledge that we all have gifts and abilities that can be used to make this world a better place.

Church, we have come too far to even think about going back: back to those days when women were in the kitchen, when gay people were in the closet, and when Black people simply ‘knew their place’. No doubt, we still have a long way to go; but we who claim to be people of faith are NOT GOING BACK! Because parched places, are no place for any of God’s children to be living!