Whales know about border crossings.

For a long time the humpback whales stayed away from the northern border of the great blue sea.

Too many humans with too many cages.

So the whales spread the word, communicating with echolocation, that certain parts of the border were unsafe for migration.

The whales disappeared.

Until one day the humans decided that a sea without whales was no sea at all and that a world with whales in cages was no world at all.

The humans passed laws protecting the migration rights of the whales.

Then, after many seasons, the whales came back to the northern border of the sea.

I saw them safely return to the sea with my own eyes, the white and black whale tails waving, like flags of peace for the world to see.

I wonder what we can learn from the migration of whales and their comeback journey to flourishing in peaceful seas.

I wonder about migrating families and children in cages at our borders.

Someday they, too, will make a comeback because that is the will of nature: to be free and to flourish, to migrate and to cross borders.

~Puget Sound, British Columbia, July, 26, 2019

What the arsonists of the Black Churches may not realize is that we who are in the Christian tradition, though we may worship in separate houses of God, we are ONE church. So when you burn down Black Churches, you are burning down MY CHURCH. 

When you set fire to a Black Church, you are destroying the WORD OF GOD because, don’t you know by now, that Black Churches are home to Bible studies, prayer meetings, youth leadership training and spiritual revivals?

Black Churches are not just filled with Bibles and prayer cards, but with holy and sacred space for the gathering of Beloved Community. The building itself is sacred and holy because within its walls God has heard the cry of God’s children and people have been transformed and saved.

As a White clergy woman, I cry out: STOP BURNING OUR CHURCHES! These Black Church burnings are cowardly and disgraceful and surely as God is all knowing, God sees this behavior as abominable.

God wants the Black Church burnings to stop. God wants whoever is responsible to repent, turn themselves in, and seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

God wants the arsonists to know that when you burn a Black Church, you are destroying God’s Holy Temple. And it must stop now. For God will hold you accountable for all of your deeds, those done in the daylight and those done in the secret of night.

What the arsonists of the Black Churches may not realize is that we who are in the Christian tradition, though we may worship in separate houses of God, we are ONE church. So when you burn down Black Churches, you are burning down MY CHURCH. 
When you set fire to a Black Church, you are destroying the WORD OF GOD because, don’t you know by now, that Black Churches are home to Bible studies, prayer meetings, youth leadership training and spiritual revivals?

Black Churches are not just filled with Bibles and prayer cards, but with holy and sacred space for the gathering of Beloved Community. The building itself is sacred and holy because within its walls God has heard the cry of God’s children and people have been transformed and saved.

As a White clergy woman, I cry out: STOP BURNING OUR CHURCHES! These Black Church burnings are cowardly and disgraceful and surely as God is all knowing, God sees this behavior as abominable.

God wants the Black Church burnings to stop. God wants whoever is responsible to repent, turn themselves in, and seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

God wants the arsonists to know that when you burn a Black Church, you are destroying God’s Holy Temple. And it must stop now. For God will hold you accountable for all of your deeds, those done in the daylight and those done in the secret of night.