Jeff Fox-Kline's Weekly Blog

I'm not a gardener by nature. I'm not a gardener by nurture, either. If anything, you can say that I'm a gardener by marriage. On a scale of green to brown, I'm just a thumb. But I did some gardening this weekend. Memorial Day weekend, being of course National Gardening Weekend . We went and bought plants to plant, we got mulch, we got dirt, we got all sorts of fun things to make our backyard prettier.  But the majority of my effort was at pulling up some sod so we could plant tomatoes. On my hands and knees ripping up grass that was, quite frankly, just doing its job. I was filthy, sweaty, and tired by the end of that process. But I could look at my work and see the fruits of my labor... a patch of dirt. But there was sod there, and the sod looked nice. It was green, recently mowed, soft, and altogether good dang grass. And now? Dirt. Dirty dirt. Dirt that was not nice looking, not recently mowed, soft (but in a squishy gross way), and altogether just a patch of dirt.

This is going to be a short one today. 21 dead in Texas. Lord, have mercy. We have once again failed. We have failed each other. We have failed ourselves. We have failed our babies.  On a fundamental level, we know there is a need for change. But the desperate, sweaty, evil clutch that fearmongers have on the levers of power means that we won't find change until we find a way to wrest away that power. Lord, have mercy.   I hate, I despise your festivals,      and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.   Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,      I will not accept them, and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals      I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs;      I will not listen to the melody of your harps.   But let justice roll down like water      and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. - Amos 5:21-24 We will keep crying out, hoping that someday someone will listen. They have to. There is no other poss

 Luke 24:1-4 " But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.  2  They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  3  but when they went in they did not find the body." Another shooting. Another series of violent acts. Another time in which we could have done something but failed to.  In Buffalo we saw two of our nations great idols, guns and white supremacy, collide in an entirely predictable fashion.  So we are left with our continuing grief, compounded by the helplessness of the situation. Will this be the one that wakes us up to what needs to be done? Will this be the time for us to deeply repent and explore what it might mean to change our hearts? Will this finally break the fever that is our legacy of racism in America? I wouldn't bet on it.  It's hard to acknowledge that fact. It's hard because it should be so obvious that something needs to change. It's hard because we have to face this

Jesus told his disciples " I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another".  This commandment is elegant in its simplicity. Love one another. That's it. Nothing more to do. Love each other.  Obviously, this is way easier to say than to do. It's really the distillation of what Christianity is. Love one another. How we do this is a subject of disagreement, but this falls in the category of "fundamental principles". The whole Christian movement hinges on how well (or poorly) we manage to follow this one rule. Without this commandment, then who are we? In fact, Jesus staked his legacy on this, saying " By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." They'll know we're Christians by our love, right? But here's the rub, we stink at this.  Not in the "humans are sinful and fallen, and we all fall short" sort of way, but in th

 Ananias is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. More one of my favorite minor characters, I'd probably give Jesus the number one overall award, but Ananias always strikes me as such an incredible example of discipleship. 10  In Damascus there was a certain disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” He answered, “Yes, Lord.” 11  The Lord instructed him, “Go to Judas’ house on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying.   12  In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias enter and put his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13  Ananias countered, “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man. People say he has done horrible things to your holy people in Jerusalem.   14  He’s here with authority from the chief priests to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” 15  The Lord replied, “Go! This man is the agent I have chosen to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.   16  I will show him how much he must suff