Blog Posts

Tears We Cannot Stop

We should all be about the business of finding, discussing and furthering solutions to our problems. But none of that can be done without at first speaking honestly about the problems we confront, with whoever in our ranks will listen and respond. - Michael Eric Dyson

Have you ever known real persecution?  I have not…but I’ve been learning a lot about other perspectives over the past several years (as noted in my “Diversity & Inclusion Incompetency” Journey).

Earlier this year, I read Michael Eric Dyson’s Tears We Cannot Stop, as I seek to gain a perspective that is very different from my own.

According to Dyson, America is in trouble, and a lot of that trouble—perhaps most of it—has to do with race. Everywhere we turn, there is discord and division, death and destruction.  Black and white people don’t merely have different experiences; we seem to occupy different universes, with worldviews that are fatally opposed to one another.

Of course, America is far from simply black and white by whatever definition you use, but the black-white divide has been the major artery through which the meaning of race has flowed throughout the body politic.

As Luke 12:48 puts it, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”  As we pass through this Thanksgiving season, many of us have reflected on how much we’ve been given!

Click here to for more of Michael Eric Dyson’s Sermon to White America

21 Prayers of Thanksgiving

Last month, I finished Rachel Larkin’s 21 Prayers of Thanksgiving: Transform Your Prayer Life by Giving Thanks.  In the book, Larkin offers 10 ways that thankfulness transforms our prayers.

Giving Thanks:   

  1. Opens our eyes to the unseen
  2. Opens our eyes to see behind the scenes of life, to see the story that God is weaving through our daily moments – the untold story. “So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18
  3. Shifts our focus onto Jesus. One prayer of thanksgiving today can move your focus from earthly things to heavenly things.
  4. Reminds us of His Goodness and Love. “Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” Psalm 106:1. Remembering all the wonderful blessings in our life on a regular basis brings us into a spacious, open place of freedom.
  5. Draws us into His Presence. “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.” Psalm 140:13 As we praise and give thanks to our Father, we are drawn into His very presence. His presence is the place to listen and talk to God. Thanksgiving is the key that unlocks our conversations with God
  6. Pleases God “In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will (desire) for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
  7. Brings clarity in decisions
  8. Keeps us hopeful “But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.” Psalm 71:14 ESV
  9. Banishes Fear and Doubt…
  10. …and Miracles follow Thanksgiving

Click here to for my application of Larkin’s 21 Prayers of Thanksgiving.