Trying to pull together some thoughts that have been rattling around in my head. In particular, trying to highlight the crucial formative role that a genuinely upside-down, power-inverting, margin-centering community (i.e. the church) has for our vision of the gospel. Thoughts? American evangelicalism has tended to be very good at calling out the errors of the "social gospel" and in some places has called out the errors of a "separatist gospel" but struggles to even recognize that there are errors inherent to a "triumphalist gospel."

Random thoughts on parenting from a slightly above avg parent who feels like he has no idea what he's doing, in no particular order:

1. Parents, we have legitimate but derived authority for which we must give account. We must learn to exercise it well in the manner of Christ. 2. Your kid doesn't need you to be their friend. They have lots of those. They need you to be their parent.

3. Your main job is not to give them an elite education, an idyllic childhood or to shield them from hardship. It's to show them the purpose of life is to follow Jesus.

1/5 At dinner, my kids listed the things I say to them all the time. Here's the list 🤣🤣🤣:

Money is not for spending.

We show each other underserved kindness.

Dial down the outrage.

How we speak to each other matters.

When in doubt, throw it out.

Bible before phone. 2/5 Try anything (food), twice.

There is a time for fun, there's time to be serious.

Be bored enough to create.

Put things back where they belong.

That's an unnecessary swipe.

What kind of crazy person does ____??

The world does not exist to entertain you.

1/4 Last night's convo still got me thinking. @esglaude in Democracy in Black talks about racial *habits.* That was a new layer for me:

1. Racial prejudice in hearts
2. Racial animosity in relationships
3. Racial habits that frame lives
4. Racial systems that order society 2/4 What are some of our racial habits in America? Claude mentions a few, I add some too:

1. Denial/minimization of race (Glaude calls this "masking")
2. Disremembering/distorting our history of race
3. Racial separation/isolation
4. Making assumptions through stereotypes

Guys, we are staying in a mountain town called Westkill in an old house with black walls in the middle of the woods right next to an old cemetery.

This is how it ends for us, isn't it? This is fine.

This was outstanding. My feeble attempt at a summary:

Human ideologies take a *good* thing in God's creation and deifies it to replace God as sovereign. This is the fatal mistake that ends up dehumanizing. The problem of ideology is at its core idolatry. Liberalism lifts up the individual (a good!). But when the individual is made the savior and sovereign over ALL of life, it results in the loss of social cohesion and self-serving isolation.

Most days I wake up completely overwhelmed as a leader. It's all too much. Then I tell myself what I tell my kids:

1. Acknowledge that you feel overwhelmed to God. Name it, don't ignore, deny, or shame the feeling away. It's ok to have that feeling. Jesus knows what it's like. 2. Admit that what you're trying to do is really hard. Like actually say out loud "This is really hard." To yourself and to God.
3. Break down the massive work that needs to be done into smaller, concrete steps.

This morning my two little guys asked me why racism is still such a problem. Reminded me of an analogy I once heard using the game Monopoly, which they love. It's not perfect, but still illuminating (1/4) I said imagine your three siblings have been playing Monopoly for two hours. They've bought all the properties and built houses and hotels on them. You ask if you can play. They let you, but they don't want to start over or give you any of their properties. (2/4)

I had the privilege of marching with #praymarchact in the Bronx today. #PrayBX!!! Some reflections:

1. All the pastors were local leaders who have been doing ministry in and for the the community for decades. That made a huge difference. It felt more effective and "sturdy." 2. The police captain of the local precinct, because it was led by local churches that he had relationship with, came out to address the pastors. This profoundly humanized police officers and dispelled the belief that this was the people vs. the police. Powerful.

A beautiful day serving lunch & distributing hygiene kits with @NYC_Relief. We served 100s of guests over 2 hrs. A few things stood out:

1. Our homeless neighbors often can't socially distance if staying in a shelter. They rely on orgs like NYC Relief for protective supplies. 2. The proportion of Asian-American guests was far higher than I expected. The model minority myth often renders these neighbors and their needs invisible.

Daily Bible-reading & prayer is the #1 indicator of spiritual growth. #NewYearsResolutions But it's not easy! Get our free @RedeemerNYC morning & evening prayer emails. You'll read:

* Psalms 3x/yr
* NT 1x/yr
* OT 1x/3yrs
* BCP Collects
* Pray for others

redeemer.com/daily Our morning prayers today. When you pray for these, you intercede for our world with 💯s of others:

Mon: work & industries
Tues: gospel identity
Wed: church community
Thur: family & relationships
Fri: neighborhood & justice

Join us in 2020! redeemer.com/daily

I hate that the @astros just took out Greinke. One hitter in 6.1 innings? I get it, but hate hate hate it.

#WorldSeries Vindicated with that HR.

Wendell Berry's "A Native Hill" is one of the best things I've ever read. For the past 2 hrs I was transported into a creation transfigured, ablaze with the glory that awaits it in Christ.

If that weren't enough, also some surprising parallels to the challenge of gentrification. "When I lived in other places I looked on their evils with the curious eye of a traveler, I was not responsible for them...for I had not been there long, and I did not feel that I would stay. But here, now that I am both native and citizen, there is no immunity to what is wrong."

1/4 "Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God’s wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who wasn’t wrathful at the sight of the world’s evil. God isn’t wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love ... 2/4 ... Once we accept the appropriateness of God’s wrath, condemnation, and judgment, there is no way of keeping it out there, reserved for others. We have to bring it home as well. I originally resisted the notion of a wrathful God because I dreaded being that wrath’s target

The most moving part of #FormedForJustice was the dance to "Strange Fruit"—beautifully devastating (can't remember the artist, help!).

Reminded me of this: a piano, entangled in a lynching tree, plays "Strange Fruit." By the strength of the Af-Am spirit, beauty arises from evil. Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

I just missed a lot of #NBAFinals action because I got sucked into #NationalSpellingBee action. How is a man supposed to choose?! Propylaeum? Are you kidding me?! #Clutch #GOAT