Bishop David Roller's Blog

Yesterday I watched the saddening news about Charlottesville. I was in an airport and a gentleman near me said, “Why can’t they just be happy?” I have no idea who he meant by “they.” Fox News would have supposed he meant those who showed up to oppose the alt-right demonstrators. MSNBC would have supposed he meant the alt-right demonstrators. I watched both channels last night so I know the different spins they put on what happened and what followed. It’s amazing how the same events can be so differently reported.

But here’s what you can’t spin: A follower of Christ can not be a white supremacist. The concept that some race is better than any other race is absurd and abhorrent to those who recognize the image of God in all. There are not two alternate views that Christians can take on this. There is good and there is evil, and racism is evil.

A follower of Christ MUST be loving, because God is love. Any movement that suggests a superiority of one race over another is not getting that primary message.

I would have been among the counter-protesters in Charlottesville. I would have stood with the Black-Lives-Matter contingent. We Christians stand against anything that demeans any person, any race, any nationality, any gender, any political party. We are a people of love.

I imagine that most every preacher, everywhere has observed the tremendous disparity between those who acclaimed Jesus as he rode down the Mount of Olives and those who were plotting to kill him; between those who laid their cloaks on the road to receive their messiah, and those who whispered about daggers, a sword, or a cross.

Here’s the story from Luke 19, told in crazy juxtaposition with the “Monkey Temple” (Swayambhunath) in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Or on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/222204155

 

Wouldn’t it be great if God gave you a sign? Just a really obvious thing so you never had to wonder, or take that leap of faith, again? Like seeing the city of Mosul repent of all its evil (read the story of Jonah/Nineveh). Or how about having people come from Africa just to hear your pearls of wisdom (read about Solomon and the queen of Sheba). From Luke, chapter 11…

Or on Vimeo at:

https://vimeo.com/207918253

It began with a divisive question, “Should we support a bad government with our taxes?” It ended with, “Whose inscription is on your heart?”

 

 

or on Vimeo at:

https://vimeo.com/196219855

Wise men. Shepherds. Manger. Jacob & Esau?!? They’re not typically a part of the Christmas story. But they’re part of the backstory. They’re part of the reason Jesus came. To mess with family messes. When God-is-with-us, families find their way forward; broken relationships are healed.

Yvonne and I made this video for you to enjoy, and be encouraged by, this Christmas time. And, yes, that is me on the rooftop.