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Why Church? Do we still need the American Church?
….So, “Why church?” That can be a scary question, because there’s a chance that we might find out that we’ve been running in the wrong direction. Paul, was furiously persecuting Christians with conviction he was doing God’s work. In mid-stride of his furious determination, he gets knocked down by light and Jesus asks, “Why do you persecute me?” Paul is struck blind so he can see that he was always blind. That “why” question made him question everything he did with his life, and that is scary! I mean, who wants to question his whole life? What organization wants to question its whole purpose?! We are afraid of “Why?” Leslie Newbigin, a missionary and theologian who…
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Starbucks & Hypocrisy
…This story is a headliner because it happened in a Starbucks store in Philadelphia and not in a rundown diner in Selma. Starbucks touts its progressive values. During the great recession, the company didn’t withdraw benefits from employees, though they were under great pressure to do so. It’s Race Together campaign, where they asked their baristas to engage the customers on issues of race, fizzled, but you can’t fault it for its noble ambition. Now, the company that attempted to single handedly make conversation on race a normative, didn’t talk about race with its own people. It didn’t practice what it preached. I’m a bit comforted by exposure of Starbucks’…
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“How do you say delicious in Korean?” – Singing to God in many languages
Dylan, my four year boy, clunks down his fork on the dinner table and demands, “How do you say delicious in Korean?!” This shocks me because I fought my father, tooth and nails, against Korean school — I had lumps till middle school to show for it. I hated going to Korean school. My stated reason: abusive teachers practicing the 70’s Korean discipline, that a good old knuckle sandwich can fix motivation. But there was a more insidious reason for hating Korean school. I ate up the prejudices served by the majority culture through media, teachers, and peer pressure. English was the only intelligent language. All other language were barbaric. I hated going to Macy with…
