News

In recent weeks, our country has been rocked once again by gun violence targeting the LGBTQIA+ community. On the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a lone gunman walked into Club Q—an LGBTQ friendly nightclub in Colorado Springs, CO—and opened fire, killing 5 people and wounding 17 more.

Public figures, from social media influencers to celebrities to politicians, talk about how “woke” they are. The term has developed more layers of meaning in the past few years.

According to Wikipedia, politics, from the Greek politika (“affairs of the city”), is the set of activities associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. It’s jarring to see such a definition because politics is currently far from what it was intended to be.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have sections where Jesus makes dramatic predictions about things that will happen in the future. Because these things seem to be hidden from general knowledge and are being revealed as special information to Jesus’ followers, they are called “apocalyptic” sayings. These terms “apocalypse” and “apocalyptic” are Greek words meaning “uncovering” or “revealing.”

I’ve lived in both cities and in the country–and in a few different states. There are commonalities among people everywhere I’ve lived. Most people want the best for themselves, their families, and the world. But we disagree on what that looks like and how we can bring it about.

Sometimes we experience a tension in life. We want to see ourselves in a position of superiority, thinking of ourselves as better than “other kinds of people”. But we also feel a pull toward humility and a stance of shared humanity with all people. Resentment may come into play. We are tempted to dehumanize those we resent, maybe even punish them.