This is an absolutely stunning - and stunningly beautiful - video. News this week of yet another bullying-induced suicide. She was only 10 years old. As I wrote on Facebook, this shit has to stop. Maybe this video can help. (I found it via Slacktivist.) Fair warning: this video includes harsh, hurtful language.
Tag: Youth
Mingo County mission trip: reflecting back, looking forward
I never quite know how to encapsulate all that happens on one of our mission trips. There is just so much that happens: tine in the vehicles there and back, staying at churches on the road there and back, inside jokes, inside disputes, conversations that cannot be reconstructed let alone shared, insights shared in confidence, …
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What do teens think about bin Laden?
God's love extends even into the place we think is, by definition, the absence of God. Over the last two weeks, the responses to the news that Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden have been legion. As have been the tone of those responses. In all that I have read, this post by Eugene Cho …
Wisdom speaking?
Some time ago I was given a hand-written note on an obviously oft-folded piece of paper. The giver, Vi, is one of the sweetest women you could ever hope to meet. She passed her 90th birthday several years ago but continues to be an active part of our church. The note was meant for our …
A little something to help Haiti
On Wednesday this week, 30 dedicated youth and adults from our church traveled to Aurora to work at Feed My Starving Children. FMSC is a Christian non-profit dedicated to providing food for, well, children starving all over the globe. They currently send food to over 70 countries. All the meals they send are hand packed …
Continuing the anti-bullying conversation
A friend of mine watched the video of my Oct. 10 sermon online and declared, “the best part was when you said ‘Amen’ and the clapping commenced – you were shocked and awed with love!” I’d say that was exactly right: both that I was awed by the loving response and that was the best …
My sermon from Oct. 10, 2010: Settling In & Coming Out
As I wrote previously, the sermon I gave at my church (Woodridge UMC) garnered quite the reaction. I've never been more scared about the possible reaction to a sermon. I've never been more gratified by a response. 6 dead kids is 6 too many. Anti-gay bullying must stop. All bullying must stop. Every human being …
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All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 