If you pay attention to the vast sum of human suffering in the world, it surely must break your heart.

The question each of us must ponder every day is this: What am I doing about the issue that is breaking my heart?

Good Friday is a day we should allow our hearts to be broken again.

God delights in reconciling estranged people. From the first pages of the Bible to the last, God repairs and restores broken relationships.

This theme of reconciling estranged groups, specifically ethnic ones, is so dominant in the New Testament, specifically in Paul’s letters, that I almost missed the forest for the trees.

On the first Palm Sunday, Jesus forced people into a perplexing dilemma as they tried to understand His life and teaching. Was He a prophet, a triumphant king, compassionate healer, or was He a blasphemous fraud who created turmoil?

2,000 years later on this Palm Sunday on March 28th, 2021, we still are struggling to understand this Man of Nazareth.

Progressive and conservative Christians are locked in a divisive battle over who more accurately represents Jesus. Both groups claim they are the ones who faithfully emulate His life and teachings. It is the other side that gets Jesus wrong.

We build gates in communities that are restricted with key-code access, and erect fences in our neighborhoods to mark off our territory, give us privacy from our neighbors, and safety from unwanted intruders.

The logic of good fences seems indisputable. Fences keep little kids and pets within our boundaries, but more importantly, they keep the unwanted and unwelcome out.

Anti-Asian attacks around the country have been on the rise during the pandemic. Hatred is being directed at people of Asian descent for the irrational reason that they are somehow to be blamed for COVID-19. We cannot allow these injustices to stand, especially in the Church.

I am not quitting the Church anytime soon, and it is not due to a shortage of plausible reasons.

In my 44 years of life as a Church insider, I have often been dismayed and horrified by the Church’s behavior: the leadership failures, sex scandals, clergy abuse of children, authoritarianism, blatant hypocrisy, judgmental attitudes, idolatrous alignment with American politics, consumerism, discomfort with science, poor treatment of women, flirtation with conspiracy theories, unwillingness to confront racism, lack of compassion for the poor, etc.

Deflated and disappointed, Cindy was brave enough to confess, “Is this all there is for me in life?” The uninformed observer would have been surprised to hear her ask that question. 

On the outside, Cindy had it all: attractive looks, beautiful home, successful husband, and cute kids. But on the inside, Cindy was experiencing an existential crisis that left her with a crushing sadness.

In the midst of busy lives, often chaotic schedules, and a fraying and raging world that demands our constant attention and loyalty, I am convinced we often miss the most lasting reality in life: love.

Love is the most important legacy you will leave. Love remains. Love never fails.

The progression or regression of who you have become since 2011 is a net result of life experiences and choices you made over the last 3,650 days.

Each one of us has three versions of ourselves: the past, present, and future. Your present self is different from your past self. You have become a different person. Your present self has also not yet become who your future self will be.

To refuse to see the plight of your brothers and sisters is to be robbed of the opportunity to feel your heart thump with the compassion of God. We must resist the impulse to look away.

There is another way. You can rise above. You must figure out how to do it ASAP.

TODAY is the day to begin rising above the chaos and the vitriol that threatens to undo the good work of our institutions.

YOU must lead. You must become the bigger person. You must refuse to be dragged down to despising your attackers. When they go low, you must go high.

Please don’t stop dreaming big dreams, God-sized ones.

But don’t allow the love of your dream to make earth a living hell for everyone else. No dream is so great that it turns a neighbor, a spouse, or even a child into an enemy.

Will Christians stand with Jesus in bringing life to the world, or will we go down with a destructive political machine that is leading our nation to division, disaster, and the death of our great nation?

As a minister, I have often witnessed the families and friends of the dead honor, gush, and even weepingly recall the goodness of their now deceased loved ones. Why do we wait to honor those we love until they are not alive to hear it?