:: eric michael bryant ::

The irony isn’t lost on me that the day after posting “Avoiding Being Super-Sized,” I am posting a reminder that today is World Refugee Day. As we struggle to stop eating more than we should, many struggle to even eat at all. I always think of the passage from Genesis 12:1-3 in which God blesses Abram to be a blessing to the nations and the phrase from the New Testament: “To much is given, much is required.”

According to the United Nations, by the end of 2007, there were more than 11 million refugees worldwide and 26 million internally displaced people.

Another important statistic: The world population will grow to 7 billion by 2012.

Finally, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Iraq, Kenya, Russia, Sudan and Europe have been identified as among the worst violators of refugees’ rights in a global survey.

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No matter which side of the aisle you are on, this has been and will continue to be an historic presidential campaign.

Barack Obama is the first African-American presidential nominee.
An article by Frank Sesno points out: “It has been 145 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, but in the span of a single lifetime much has changed. The military has been integrated. The schools have been desegregated. There was the King march and his assassination. There have been riots in the streets and breakthroughs in the ranks.”
Ironically, his nomination came exactly 40 years after Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Both were known voices for civil rights.  (By the way, Obama would also be considered our 14th Scot/Irish President).

Hillary Clinton was the first woman to get this close to becoming a presidential nominee.

John McCain is the oldest person to be nominated for president.
Now some have made fun of him for being older than Alaska, Snow White, and Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, but we live in a time when people are retiring later and living longer than ever.

Finally, the choice of a Vice Presidential candidate could be historic as well. McCain has been rumored to consider Bobby Jindal, the Indian-American governor of Louisiana and before that Condoleeza Rice, and Obama may choose Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas.

For a lighter side to this historic campaign, check out this clip from “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” which includes Abraham Lincoln’s response to Obama’s nomination.

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Join a group of activists to spread the word about the need to stop human trafficking at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA for The Freeze Project on June 27.

Watch the video here.

Participants blend themselves into a crowd as if they were regulars in that particular environments.

A cue will be given by the director of the Freeze moment.

Participants will then stop what they were doing and stay frozen for the next 5 minutes until they receive another cue telling them that the freeze is over.

Following the freeze, participants will handout a couple of print material each to people observing them (with or without conversation).

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Originally I had given one of the chapters in Peppermint-Filled Pinatas this title, but my editor encouraged me to broaden the topic and discuss serving, loving, and reaching out to all people no matter how the live their life morally - not just those who are living a homosexual lifestyle. The chapter is now called “Lots of Sex in the City: Engaging Others in a Post-Sexual Revolution World.”

If you haven’t heard already, the California Supreme Court ruled that the same sex marriage ban voted on and approved by California voters in 2000 was unconstitutional. Same sex marriage will be legal in California within the next few weeks. The 4-3 decision will lead to more court battles and more arguments. With friends on both sides of this issue, and with my own personal convictions, I thought I would offer a few thoughts to consider as the dialogue heats up:

It is possible and in fact imperative to love people - even those with whom we disagree.

We can involve and include people in our lives and in our churches - even those with whom we may disagree. (Anyone can be a part of our community at Mosaic - no matter who they are or what they believe. To become a part of our volunteer staff requires going through a mentoring process).

Christians should not expect non-Christians to act as if they have the same standards, especially since even Christians have a hard time living up to them.

The Spirit of God can truly change people when people want to be transformed.

Those opposed to same sex marriage should share reasons for a ban based on a broad rationale rather than simply spiritual reasons.

We cannot influence others we have pushed away. This includes those who are struggling to figure out what to do with their sexual desires while growing up.

Christians are known for who we hate rather than how we love. This moves us out of the conversation and polarizes those involved so quickly no progress can be made.

Most of us already feel like God will judge us. Too often, we don’t realize that God offers to love and forgive us.

For more on this controversial topic, listen to my message on Religion, Sex, and Politics and Erwin’s talk on “What About Sex?” during the “Life’s Toughest Questions Series.”

Another thought on politics and faith: “Changing Laws or Changing People?”

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One of the highlights of my recent travels included the African Childrens Choir at the Virginia Baptists event. Eddie Heath and his team did a great job of investing in their leaders as well as challenging us to be a part of the solution in the midst of the challenges in the world.

“Each year a new choir is selected from children who are not only musical, but who also come from some of Africa’s most desperate villages. Many have lost one or both parents to poverty or disease.” The choirs help raise funding for schools which are serving thousands of children across Africa.

8 year old Joseph

Watch them perform at the Ellen Show with Daughtry here.

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Devastation in Burma (now known as Myanmar) as a result of a cyclone. Over 22,000 expected to have died, 41,000 missing, and over 1 million lost their homes.

The military government has not allowed help in from the U.S.. We should pray for those affected and that this tragedy might move the government to allow more freedom for the Burmese people. Ironically, this tragic event has delayed elections which could have cemented the power of the ruling military government. These elections have been delayed in the most affected areas.

UPDATE: US Envoy expects deaths from the Cyclone to top 100,000 people

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Last year all chaos broke loose at a rally in downtown Los Angeles in support of immigrants’ rights. This year there wasn’t any rubber bullets or batons used on the crowds (as far as I have heard). As you can imagine, in a city like Los Angeles where 50% of the workforce includes immigrants, immigration is an important issue to many of our friends and neighbors.

As I wrote in Peppermint-Filled Pinatas

“We should consider this issue beyond party lines and think in terms of what would be the more godly response. We should “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). Or for those with European ethnic backgrounds who seem to be more outspoken proponents of deporting undocumented immigrants perhaps, “do to others what we would have others do to our great -great-grandparents.” According to Thomas Sowell in Race and Culture, “Of the 70 million people who emigrated from Europe over the past few centuries, nearly 50 million went to the United States—and 35 million of these arrived in just one century, from 1830 to 1930 (p. 33).” When we choose to love the foreigner in our own land we are thanking those who accepted our ancestors. The Scriptures can inform and even complicate our politics, leaving honest and good people on both sides of the political aisle.”

For more on the subject of immigration, check out previous posts on “Don’t Come But If You Do We’ll Pay You,” “Kidnapping Muslims,” and Colin Powell’s thoughts on the “Greatest Threat to the USA.”

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Join us for a free teleseminar on Tuesday, April 22nd at 11am (Pacific Standard Time).

I’ll spend an hour sharing insights from my book as well as some of the things I’ve learned as Navigator at Mosaic. We’ll also interact and I’ll try to answer as many of your questions as I can.

To Register, email your name and location to: teleseminar@ericbryant.org

A reply will be sent to you via email with call details and dial in instructions.
A recording of the call will be made available 48 hours after the live call is complete.

If you have specific questions you would like to ask Eric during the call, please email those to eric@ericbryant.org.

Be sure to click the “Share This” icon below and invite a friend to join in on this call as well.

Hope to talk with you then!

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One of the most powerful moments at our Awaken event last week was the panel discussion hosted by Goodie Goodloe from our team at Mosaic and featuring Yvonne Latty. All of the African American panelists pointed towards the importance valuing the uniqueness of the individual and seeking to love and reach out to the outsider. At the same time, a prevailing theme seemed to be the power of redemption in the African American story in our nation.

I just happened to read an article a couple of days ago which seemed to be addressing the same theme. The title of the article:
‘Not the descendants of victims but victors’. The article tells the story of David A. Wilson, a 28 year old African American journalist who tracks down a man related to the family which enslaved his ancestors. The man’s name is David Wilson. David A. Wilson’s journey was captured on film as part of a documentary called Meeting David Wilson. Tonight, I watched this film.

This powerful story reminded me of the power of faith, the resilience of those who were enslaved as well as their descendents, the contribution of those who were enslaved to help create the world’s wealthiest nation, and the beauty of reconciliation. This dark time in our nation’s history is not glossed over as the two David Wilsons discuss reparations, the hypocrisy of Christians owning slaves, and what conversations they would have if they were able to travel back in time to talk with their ancestors who lived just three generations ago under very different circumstances.

One of the most powerful scenes for me was when the two David Wilsons have a family reunion with both of their families. It was beautiful! I couldn’t help but smile when I noticed the children from both families were breaking open a pinata.

I was reminded that stereotypes exist because friendships do not.

[Check out your level of prejudice here and read part one (of four) of an article on creating a diverse community].

A real poignant moment came as the two men sat on the porch and talked about their feelings and their hopes. After the scene ended a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. came across the screen which read:

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.”

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Since I try to be a good husband, I watch American Idol with Debbie. It’s not my favorite show. Sometimes it is hard to watch, especially the ridiculous song and dance routines the contestants do together and the way-too-long results shows (although I did like when all the contestants sang “Shout to the Lord” but perhaps I am biased). Last night, I have to admit, Idol Gives Back was inspiring.

There are so many people with so many needs, and I love that we live in a world in which we can actually do something about it. Giving money is a tiny part of bringing help, but it can make a huge difference. It is like giving someone a boost onto the bottom rung of the ladder so they can keep climbing up.

Have you noticed how the attitude in our culture seems to be shifting? It used to be that certain churches, missionaries, and certain non-profits cared about the plight of the poor. Now even pop culture does! Sometimes the church has been slow, but other times there are followers of Christ who have paved the way.

We would be amazed with the amount of progress we can make if we began to serve those we deem untouchable. Just as slavery and colonialism have ended we can be a part of ending poverty.

In The End of Poverty, Jeffrey D. Sachs writes, “Our generation is heir to two and a half centuries of economic progress. We can realistically envision a world without extreme poverty by the year 2025 because technological progress enables us to meet basic human needs on a global scale and to achieve a margin above basic needs unprecedented in history…Let the future say of our generation that we sent forth mighty currents of hope, and that we worked together to heal the world.”

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