[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsVuBdPMp4o&w=560&h=315]...

Here’s a post I wrote for the Lower Susquehanna Synod Towards Racial Justice team. https://www.lss-elca.org/were-all-in-this-together-right-by-rev-matthew-best/. Dear fellow white friend, We’re all in this together. That is the phrase I’ve heard the most in the midst of pandemic and stay-at-home orders. It is a nice phrase to say, isn’t it?...

The last few days has me thinking about protests and riots.  These terms get used a lot.  We use them without thinking about how they are defined. We make assumptions about these terms.  Protests are generally viewed in a more positive manner than a riot.  Protests are assumed to...

Prayer for June 3, 2020: Please pray with me.  God of the Word, you come to us through words.  You come in lots of ways.  But why words Lord?  What it is about words that you determined would touch us, would connect us with you?  Why words?  Maybe it’s...

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Prayer for June 2, 2020: Please pray with me.  God of all things, your ways are certainly not our ways.  Too often we limit our imagination.  We compartmentalize.  We think small.  How exactly is that living into being made in the likeness of you?  Why do we think so...

In the midst of crisis, it is easy to fall prey to convenient arguments and compartmentalized thinking. Convenient arguments are ones that are simplistic and short term.  They are incapable of withstanding any scrutiny and are designed to make a quick point that supports one’s current opinion.  But they...

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Prayer for June 1, 2020: Please pray with me. God of fire, burn within us.  Burn away the things and beliefs and identities that do not bring life, that keep us from you.  Burn away our desire to separate and divide.  Burn away the idols that we put in...

(I preached this sermon on Pentecost, May 31, 2020.  You can find the full worship service atwww.ststephenlc.org). Fire has three necessary ingredients – you need heat, fuel, and oxygen.  Take away any one of the three and a fire will either not start or it will be extinguished pretty...