James Earley

😂 six year old?

No, sir. We don't coach six year olds in Mario Kart. We leave them in the dust of our exhaust pipes.

It's the one thing we have. Across all sexual orientations and identities.

Beating kids in Mario Kart unifies us all.

"hurr durr I hate Paul" and "everything I don't like about classical theism is calvinism" feel like they go hand in hand in my circles.

The church cannot see itself as the bastion of righteousness when it produces the wickedness that infects the land.

The implications abound for the church when the holder of the highest office in the land--who received 81% of white evangelical votes--posts AI videos comparing the Obamas to apes. Those implications increase exponentially when the same caricatures are easily discoverable within Christian circles.

The group was filled with Christian adults from southern Minnesota who had been important and influential to me as a teenager and young adult.

It was a Christian group.

One of the first times I saw the Obamas compared to apes, it was in a Facebook group I had been invited to join called "Eyes Wide Qpen" somewhere around 2021.

Yes, "Qpen" as in, Q-Anon.

The invite came from a woman I credit with instilling an "alive" faith in me when I was a teenager.

You can't be on God's side while you murder people in the streets.

You can only join God by siding with the oppressed.

They are God's unique possession, and the only ones who can possess God.

If you want to be righteous--for your life to hold meaning at eternity--you must side with the oppressed.

Gestapo-style ICE operations are plastered on our screens.

And somehow we aren't all unified in the conviction that it is *wrong*.

We are like those who have eyes and are never seeing; ears and never hearing; minds and never understanding.

The prophets have words for us. May we listen.

"I don't believe you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen... if you would watch... if you would observe their ugly and inhuman treatment of Negroes here in the city jail..."

We're observing it. We're watching it. We're seeing it.
It's happening every day.

An image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from his recording of Letter From a Birmingham Jail.

I think Dr. King was right about everything. Except *maybe* this one thing.

🧵

He describes in his Letter from Birmingham Jail the many varied ways the police force had abused the jailed protesters.

He writes to the white moderate church about these atrocities...

Oh my word. Peace to you, and gumption. And Lord willing: rest for you all.

Imagining Peter Jackson's LOTR but every ring is actually a bird the wearer somehow has to keep tamed to benefit from.

...in the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the dark lord Sauron forged, in secret, a master ring to control all others. And into this ring, he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life.

An image of five golden rings interlaced.

Reminder: tomorrow is the FIFTH day of Christmas, on which, my true love gave to me five golden rings.

BUT.

they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made...

IDK about the rest of you pastors, but as for myself, I wrapped up our church's Advent prep a solid 22 hours early this year. #WorkingAhead

me, every day when my meds wear off:

"why am I suddenly starving??"

I'm not posting on bsky enough these days for it to be clear I was joking about the hell part. 😅

In the last week I've been using the word "divination" quite a bit when I actually meant "divinization." And that may not seem like a big deal to you but I might have signed a few tickets to hell with that one... 😬

During dinner, my kid climbs in my lap and whispers:

"Daddy, is the government giving our neighbors food yet?'

>> "No, buddy, they still haven't."

"Ohhhh but they are supposed to help!"

They are supposed to help. It's the whole point of government.

My kids get it; when will the adults get it?

We cannot offer a meaningful salvation to those we are unwilling to know. We cannot offer a meaningful alternative to suffering we are unfamiliar with. We cannot offer liberation to those in need if we are unwilling to be liberated from the privileges that hold us hostage.

If we are satisfied with a faith that promises heaven “somewhere out there” but keeps hell alive and well on earth; if we are satisfied with increasing the tally at heaven’s gate, while continuing to gatekeep those things that could mean life for us on earth… it is not the faith of Jesus.

A text exchange between two people. Person one: don't forget to ask for help at work! Person two: no. I'm a big strong man. I don't need help. Help is weakness. Help is failure. Self sufficiency is the highest good. Person one: good attitude! That'll keep you healthy. Person two: knew it. Therapy is working!

Therapy is working.

ICE agents arrest Alderperson Jessie L. Fuentes (26th Ward of Chicago city council) after she questions them on whether they have a signed judicial warrant to arrest a person at Humboldt Park Hospital.

“He has Constitutional rights.”

“No.”

ICE’s exact mindset: no one is allowed any rights now.

Spent the last half of my session debating with my counselor about whether or not humans actually "make" choices.

So, anyway, therapy is going well.

Sending this to my therapist

a man says i 'm sorry that was inappropriate on a skymed poster ALT: a man says i 'm sorry that was inappropriate on a skymed poster

You might even call it "solid" advice 😏

In the sermon today, I shared a phrase I learned from a mentor:

"Don't should yourself."

I have received several communications expressing concern over my language in church.

Someone pray for the Lord to help me enunciate more gooder.

Every time someone is like, "sorry to cancel last minute," I'm like: "no, no... I was glad to meet. And I'm also glad for the surprise grey space." 😂 It's my own version of radical acceptance.

Thanks for saying all this. It resonates deeply with Dr. Cone's assertion that the enslaved Hebrews were "God's people" precisely because they were oppressed. We cease to function as God's people when we are the oppressors. ⚪ Xtianity is the same old enslavement agenda baptized in Christ's name.