When I saw this 60 Minutes report on the new To Kill a Mockingbird play, I couldn't help thinking, "Why didn't Aaron Sorkin write a completely new work to address the issues of race and justice in a modern context, as he says is his purpose?"
I've loved Sorkin's and Jeff Daniels' work through the years, but truly if they want to turn Atticus Finch into a clueless, post-modern anti-hero, they're not really doing To Kill a Mockingbird.
This production seems like little more than the exploitation of an established work of art to me. I wish that Lee's estate had not to have settled on their case against it.
(Plus: Daniels, two years younger than me, is too old for the part of Atticus. He's 63.)
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2018
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Red and yellow, black and white, we all need Jesus (AUDIO)
Here.
[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. This is the text for the worship message this morning.]
[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. This is the text for the worship message this morning.]
Saturday, July 09, 2016
A time for prayer
Posted this yesterday over on Facebook:
Praying God's comfort for the families of the fallen Dallas police officers.
Praying also for the families of the fallen African American men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Praying that God will, through Jesus Christ, give insight to our nation so that we may live in peace and have justice.
I pray for law-enforcement personnel, who have a difficult and important job.
I pray for those who seek equal justice under the law.
I pray that the culture of violence will be conquered by the God revealed in Jesus Christ.
God, "teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine."
Thursday, July 07, 2016
Racial Indifference...and My Repentance
The Barna Group has released this bit of polling: "73% of adults agree that Christian churches play an important role in racial reconciliation."
Even granting that some of those Americans are clueless about the Church, its message, or its role--including many Christians--I think that this sizable majority of our neighbors (a way larger number than the number of people who will vote for the winning candidate in this presidential election) are right.
We Christians and we of the Church do have a role in working for racial reconciliation.
My efforts in this area have been in fits and spurts for years.
And I still think that political action is the least important thing that individual Christians can do on any social issue.
Mostly, I believe, that if we can teach, preach, and live the whole truth of Scripture--that all people are sinners in need of the forgiveness and life-changing grace God offers through the crucified and risen Jesus Christ--hearts, minds, wills, and racial attitudes will be changed.
But we are also called to speak words of justice. And in this, I find myself wanting.
As a boy, I was taught to sing, "Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight." I believe that...with all my heart. I preach that. I teach that. I believe that it's a truth that comes straight from my Savior, Who is Lord of all peoples.
And yet, there is more to be done. Not necessarily by the Church or by pastors, but by all Christians energized by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And not necessarily, as I say, by political actions, but in actions of all kinds streaming from hearts made clean and new and eternal by Christ.
I suspect that many of us need to repent when it comes to our racial attitudes, whether they're the attitudes of indifference buttressed by remaining enveloped in our own race cultures or racism itself. Indifference may be the worst of these two things, as horrible as racism is, because, as has been observed, the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference.
In my heart, I'm not indifferent. But I have been indifferent in my praying and, in recent years, in my living. For that, I repent, and ask that God would show me what I can do through Christ, to bridge the chasms between people.
Tonight, my heart is broken by, among other things, the ongoing tensions between black and white America, the continuation of racism and injustice, which we must acknowledge, I think, whether it's determined that what happened in Louisiana and Minnesota were justified police actions or not.
Speaking for myself and, I believe, the wonderful police officers I've known throughout my life, the videos of those two incidents are horrifying. Horrifying! (I think especially of the little four year old girl who was in the car when four bullets ripped into the body of the man behind the wheel.)
But even beyond these incidents, we must acknowledge that there is a barrier between blacks and whites. If you are a Christian--conservative, liberal, whatever, you and I know, brothers and sisters, that, among us at least, race should not be a barrier.
Jesus died for all.
Jesus rose for all.
And all who trust in Him, whatever their race, can have life with Him as they turn from their sin and follow Him.
Tonight, I ask Christ to help me to turn away from my past racial indifference and to show me the way living my life with less indifference and more of the love of Christ.
[Blogger Mark Daniels is the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio.]
Even granting that some of those Americans are clueless about the Church, its message, or its role--including many Christians--I think that this sizable majority of our neighbors (a way larger number than the number of people who will vote for the winning candidate in this presidential election) are right.
We Christians and we of the Church do have a role in working for racial reconciliation.
My efforts in this area have been in fits and spurts for years.
And I still think that political action is the least important thing that individual Christians can do on any social issue.
Mostly, I believe, that if we can teach, preach, and live the whole truth of Scripture--that all people are sinners in need of the forgiveness and life-changing grace God offers through the crucified and risen Jesus Christ--hearts, minds, wills, and racial attitudes will be changed.
But we are also called to speak words of justice. And in this, I find myself wanting.
As a boy, I was taught to sing, "Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight." I believe that...with all my heart. I preach that. I teach that. I believe that it's a truth that comes straight from my Savior, Who is Lord of all peoples.
And yet, there is more to be done. Not necessarily by the Church or by pastors, but by all Christians energized by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And not necessarily, as I say, by political actions, but in actions of all kinds streaming from hearts made clean and new and eternal by Christ.
I suspect that many of us need to repent when it comes to our racial attitudes, whether they're the attitudes of indifference buttressed by remaining enveloped in our own race cultures or racism itself. Indifference may be the worst of these two things, as horrible as racism is, because, as has been observed, the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference.
In my heart, I'm not indifferent. But I have been indifferent in my praying and, in recent years, in my living. For that, I repent, and ask that God would show me what I can do through Christ, to bridge the chasms between people.
Tonight, my heart is broken by, among other things, the ongoing tensions between black and white America, the continuation of racism and injustice, which we must acknowledge, I think, whether it's determined that what happened in Louisiana and Minnesota were justified police actions or not.
Speaking for myself and, I believe, the wonderful police officers I've known throughout my life, the videos of those two incidents are horrifying. Horrifying! (I think especially of the little four year old girl who was in the car when four bullets ripped into the body of the man behind the wheel.)
But even beyond these incidents, we must acknowledge that there is a barrier between blacks and whites. If you are a Christian--conservative, liberal, whatever, you and I know, brothers and sisters, that, among us at least, race should not be a barrier.
Jesus died for all.
Jesus rose for all.
And all who trust in Him, whatever their race, can have life with Him as they turn from their sin and follow Him.
Tonight, I ask Christ to help me to turn away from my past racial indifference and to show me the way living my life with less indifference and more of the love of Christ.
[Blogger Mark Daniels is the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio.]
73% of adults agree that Christian churches play an important role in racial reconciliation pic.twitter.com/lRXmb17YVC— Barna Group (@BarnaGroup) July 7, 2016
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
"...one of the most segregated hours...in America"
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s observation about 11:00am on Sunday mornings, when Christians of different colors worship the same God revealed in Jesus Christ, is about as true today as the day he first made this observation. It was on April 17, 1960, Easter Sunday, on NBC's Meet the Press that King made this famous pronouncement.*
The reasons for this persistent segregation are many: the momentum of history, the locations where worship happens (often influenced, even mandated, by race), differences in comfort zones, and, yes, sometimes, racism.
But I pray that one day Christian congregations will mirror heaven and the words of a song many of us learned as children in Sunday School:
*The day was also the birthdate of one of my kid sisters.
The reasons for this persistent segregation are many: the momentum of history, the locations where worship happens (often influenced, even mandated, by race), differences in comfort zones, and, yes, sometimes, racism.
But I pray that one day Christian congregations will mirror heaven and the words of a song many of us learned as children in Sunday School:
Jesus loves the little childrenEven now, Lord Jesus, "Thy kingdom com, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Amen
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world!
*The day was also the birthdate of one of my kid sisters.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
'Pilgrimage of Progress'
That's the name of this fantastic documentary about four African-Americans who studied at The Ohio State University in the late-40s and early-50s. Each faced challenges at Ohio State and in life. But all four went on to achieve great things. I knew something of the story of Judge Duncan, but not of the other three alums. Take the time to watch this video, created by The Ohio State University Alumni Association, and be inspired!
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