Minion Jesus, Trump at Arlington, Refugees at the Paralympics
Plus, a healing sermon from Jonathan's brother
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Our highlights this week include:
- The Minion Jesus meme and the seven mountain mandate
- The Refugee Paralympic Team medals for the first time
- Trump accidentally offends White Christian nationalists at Arlington
- Librarians fighting the war on despair
- And Jonathan keeps us grounded with a healing sermon
Jonathan’s Recommendations
The Minion Jesus Meme and the Seven Mountain Mandate
A recent podcast featured Vox’s Laura Bullard who had investigated why there was a sudden trend of almost identical, seemingly scripted TikTok videos with people telling viewers to follow Jesus while standing in front of an image of a Minion being crucified. The videos come from evangelist influencers who mimic each other’s viral content to save people over the internet. The influencers are from the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a huge network of non-denominational, charismatic, pro-Trump churches who believe in God’s desire to make his followers rich and powerful. One of the movement’s leaders is the man who spawned the familiar notion in 2016 that Donald Trump was a modern-day Cyrus, a heathen who God nevertheless appointed to do the holy work of saving God’s people. This is also the same movement that touts the seven mountain mandate. This is a belief that Christians in America are experiencing a revival and will rise up and dominate seven different sectors of society to bring about a Christian nation. The NAR is one of the fastest growing sectors of American Christianity and one of the main engines of Trump’s support from the Church. But they are fixated on worshipping the idols of greed and influence. We pray and work for the day when the Jesus of Nazareth is more attractive than the Jesus of nationalism.
The First Refugee Medals at the Paralympics
Zakia Khudadadi is a refugee from Afghanistan. She was born without a forearm and started training in Taekwondo when she was nine. But she had to practice in secret gyms because of religious and cultural norms against women in athletic competition. She fled to Paris in 2021 after the US evacuated and the Taliban took over. She continued training with French athletes, and now she is a Paralympic bronze medalist, the first ever medalist for the Refugee Paralympic Team. She hopes to empower women in Afghanistan who suffer from brutal repression. Cameroonian native Guillaume Junior Atangana, a visually impaired sprinter, added to the refugee team’s medal count with a bronze in the 400 meters. The Olympics and Paralympics created refugee teams in 2016 to allow athletes driven from their home countries because of war, violence, or abuse of human rights to compete at the highest level. We pray for more success for these teams, and for peace in their countries. And we are thankful that so many are now celebrating them.
Sy's Recommendations
Trump Missteps by Demeaning Christian Nationalism at Arlington
You may have heard about the Trump campaign’s recent stumble during Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery. He took photos and filmed a video for social media in a section of the cemetery for soldiers killed during America’s retreat from Afghanistan, seeking to highlight Biden administration mistakes. When an employee correctly pointed out that campaign activities are illegal at the cemetery, the Trump campaign told reporters she was mentally ill and called for her firing. Some on the right, even some Trump supporters, have strongly condemned this break in the rules of decorum. Why? So much of Trump’s appeal to Republicans is that he can break rules of decorum and get away with it. His mistake here was disrespecting one of whiteness’ and Christian nationalism’s holiest sites. Arlington, maybe more than anywhere else, reinforces the narrative that American soldiers served, or died serving, something good. If you’ve been there, you know that “something” is explicitly Jesus Christ. This is a place that comforts families and communities by assuring them, with some of the world’s most convincing pomp and circumstance, that their loved ones did not serve or die for anything less than the kingdom of God. But Trump doesn’t believe that any more than he believes Biden stole the election. Trump harnesses Christian Nationalism. He exploits whiteness. but he couldn’t care less if either are good or true. He’s a con man, an imperfect one who occasionally forgets his audience. Going forward, he will have to watch out for times like these when his immediate self-interest puts him at odds with White America’s most treasured idols.
- Read about Trump at Arlington
Librarians Fighting the War on Despair
A beautifully-written essay from Longreads published earlier this year captures one librarians thoughts about the function of her job contrasted with the image of her job painted for her in school. Our public libraries are where so many people who have fallen through the cracks of our system go for somewhere to spend precious hours in safety and without harassment. So librarians are often the people most immediately confronted with our nation’s failure to provide for marginalized people despite our unparalleled resources. Every day, they face the loneliness, anger, anxiety, sickness, addiction and everything else resulting from our greed and our failure to love as Jesus loved. And they have to learn the craft of responding with grace. The author, a children’s librarian, sees all this as deeply connected to what is in theory supposed to be her actual job: getting children to love reading. What’s the connection? “We want the child to read and comprehend what they’re reading because we need that child to grow into somebody who can imagine a better future.” I hesitated to share this piece because I think there is some saviorism in the author’s attitude, and I’m not the biggest fan of how she describes some of her patrons. But the essay gives us a real-life snapshot of someone trying the best they can to confront the rotten systemic fruit of America’s spiritual depravity, and coming to some pretty profound conclusions. It’s definitely worth your time.
Staying Grounded with Jonathan
“Do You Want to Be Well?” is the question I heard this past Sunday from the pulpit at East End Fellowship in Richmond Virginia. The preacher was Rev. Dr. Nathan Walton, who You might guess is my brother. His new sermon series is titled “Repairers of the Breach.” This week’s sermon was an introduction to White supremacy and the scourge of racism. And it contained a powerful invitation to be made well. Rarely have I sat in a congregation being shepherded through difficult issues at an intellectual and academic level while the talk remained accessible and applicable to all in attendance. Jesus is still the one who sets people free if we ask Him, including from the oppression of racism. I am grateful for pastors like Nathan who are preaching a whole Gospel that heals our whole culture.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Jonathan and Sy