brohammett.bsky.social

"You don't pay…All done." What a British dental receptionist taught me about healthcare, immigrants, and loving your neighbor

New essay: “You don’t pay…All done.”
A small kindness from a British receptionist, and years later, a young immigrant woman who died alone but never uncared for. Healthcare is hospitality—and it reveals who we are.
Read at: open.substack.com/pub/brohamme...

The Real Trump Derangement Syndrome After ten years of lies, violence, and now defending Holocaust deniers—who's actually deranged?

For 10 years, #TDS has been used as a insult—if you’re bothered by #Trump, you’re “deranged.”
After a decade of lies, violence, cruelty, felony convictions, and now defending Holocaust deniers, I think the real derangement lies elsewhere.
New essay: brohammett.substack.com/p/the-real-t...

The Sin We Won't Name Why Greed, Not Sloth, Is Our Real Spiritual Crisis

#Sloth isn't the problem. It's #Greed. open.substack.com/pub/brohamme...

Hi, I’m God.

Jesus and I agree that starving the poor so you can build yourself golden bathrooms and golden ballrooms is evil. Anyone who does that shall burn for eternity. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Thanks,

God

When Faith and Science Divorce: A Dangerous Movement in Our Statehouses More than 420 anti-science bills threaten to dismantle public health protections built over a century. Christians should be alarmed.

420+ anti-science bills targeting public health protections like vaccines threaten lives and are backed by some Christian groups. As a pastor, I believe faith and science can—and must—work together. This isn’t just bad policy; it’s a matter of life and death. brohammett.substack.com/p/when-faith...

The Most Terrifying Sentence in the English Language? Rethinking Reagan's famous quip as the safety net unravels

Reagan’s famous line, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you,” hides a dangerous idea. As #Arkansas faces cuts to vital programs, we need to ask: What if nobody’s coming to help? Read more at: brohammett.substack.com/p/the-most-t... #arpx #arkansasbluedots

Some buildings become monuments to greatness.
Others become monuments to insecurity that history has to bury out of embarrassment.
They’re grotesque. (9/9)

who covered everything in gold and built monuments to himself because he was desperate to be seen as great.
Nero's palace was bigger than it needed to be. More gold than made sense. Built to prove something that real power never has to prove.
Then the Romans buried it in shame. (8/9)

Very secure leader behavior.
Oh, and it's "self-funded"—by Google ($22 million), Lockheed Martin (undisclosed), and various tech companies (undisclosed) who are all - purely coincidentally - doing business with his administration.
So the word "grotesque" comes from an insecure tyrant (7/9)

for doing all of this."
Makes him seem smaller.
Aides say he 3D-printed little dollhouse models that he fidgets with during meals. "The tenser things are, the more he moves the pieces around."
So when actual work needs doing, he's... playing with tiny buildings.
Very normal. (6/9)

Gilded Corinthian columns. Crystal chandeliers. Gold everything. All modeled after Mar-a-Lago.
He's literally remaking the People's House to look like his country club.
Interior designers are calling it "tacky," "looks cheap," “gilded rococo nightmare” and—"makes him seem smaller (5/9)

Now, why am I bringing this up the day after the East Wing got demolished?
Because somebody just tore down a building that survived World War II to build a ballroom TWICE THE SIZE of the White House itself.
$250-300 million (the number keeps going up). (4/9)

they found these wild, distorted paintings everywhere. They called it "pittura grottesca"—"cave painting."
That's where we get the word "grotesque." It literally means: the excessive, desperate stuff from Nero's palace that was so cringe they had to bury it. (3/9)

built himself a 100-300 acre golden palace called the Domus Aurea. It had a 98-foot statue of himself, a party barge lake, and SO. MUCH. GOLD.
When Renaissance artists discovered it centuries later (buried underground because even Romans were like, “This is too much”), (2/9)

Fun Etymology Lesson That'll Ruin Your Day (a thread)
So I learned something delightful on our trip to Rome.
You know where the word "grotesque" comes from?
Nero's palace.
Emperor Nero—the guy who murdered his own mother and used Christians as garden torches—(1/9)

Beyond Red and Blue How Christians Can Be Political Without Being Partisan

On Saturday, I joined other Arkansans at Little Rock's No Kings Rally. That evening, Trump posted an AI video of himself wearing a crown and dropping feces on American protesters. Christians must be political without being partisan.#arpx #ArkansasBlueDots #NoKings open.substack.com/pub/brohamme...

#arpx

Sixteen Days to Save Arkansas Childcare When the wheels fall off, everyone stops moving

Full story: brohammett.substack.com/p/sixteen-da... #ARChildcare #ArkansasFamilies #arleg #arpx

Sign the Petition Don’t Let Our Children be Casualties: Support Quality Childcare in Arkansas

#Arkansas: 16 days until childcare collapse.
6K families losing care. 400 educators laid off. 80+ centers closing. State found $277M for private school vouchers but can't find $80M for working-class childcare. This is a choice.
Sign the petition: www.change.org/p/don-t-let-...

The Bible never called #GretaThunberg #antichrist (whatever #PeterThiel says). But it has a LOT to say about leaders who build golden monuments to themselves, exploit religion for power, and scapegoat the vulnerable. New essay at open.substack.com/pub/brohamme... #Apocalypse

Actually What the Church Needs Right Now Is More Lone Rangers Reconsidering a childhood hero's lessons for pastoral ministry and faithful leadership

"We don't need any lone rangers" is one of the most common dismissals in church leadership circles. But what if we've missed something important? New post on what the Lone Ranger teaches us about faithful leadership when institutions fail. open.substack.com/pub/brohamme...

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

When Peacemaking Demands a Sword Why Christians Must Stand Against Dehumanization—Even When It Costs Us Everything

"I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." —Jesus
When does unity become complicity? When does bridge-building abandon the gospel?
New essay on the difference between cheap peace and costly peacemaking. Featuring Klein vs. Coates on where we draw the line. brohammett.substack.com/p/when-peace...

A Tale of Two Christianities What the Kirk memorial and Quantico speeches reveal about the American church

"A Tale of Two Christianities"
Two versions of Christianity are competing for America's soul—one following Jesus' radical teachings about love and enemy care, the other wrapped in nationalism and power.
I'd love your thoughts, especially if you disagree.
Read: brohammett.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-...

Faith leaders speak against death penalty, urge Arkansas governor not to restart executions | Arkansas Advocate Arkansas is the fifth state to legalize execution by nitrogen gas, which clergymembers of several denominations say is a form of torture.

Via @tessmvrbin.bsky.social: Arkansas faith leaders petitioned Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday not to restart executions in the state in light of a new law allowing the use of nitrogen gas suffocation for the death penalty. #arpx

United Methodist ministries named in House probe | UMNews.org The United Methodist Council of Bishops and other ministries are among 215 charities that received a U.S. congressional committee’s letter about their work with immigrants.

Congress targets UMC agencies for immigrant ministry—despite receiving ZERO federal funding. Our response? We continue welcoming the stranger because Scripture calls us to, regardless of political pressure.
www.umnews.org/en/news/unit...
#UMC #Immigration #FaithInAction

Sacred Steps: The Journey Transformed View this email in your browser

Sacred Steps: Easter Sunday - The Journey Transformed
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Sacred Steps: Holy Saturday - The Pilgrim's Rest View this email in your browser

Sacred Steps: Holy Saturday - The Pilgrim's Rest
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Sacred Steps: Good Friday - The Path of Sorrows
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Sacred Steps: Maundy Thursday - The Table
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