Ten Years after Mike Brown, a Fatphobic Faith, Palestine's New Disabled Generation
Ten Years after Mike Brown, a Fatphobic Faith, Palestine's New Disabled Generation
Plus, God's good news about politics
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Our highlights this week include:
- The God’s good news about politics bible study
- Ten years later, Dr. Jemar Tisby reflects on how Mike Brown’s death changed his life
- The vast numbers of new disabilities Israel’s genocide is creating
- Freeing the Church from fatphobia
- And Jonathan keeps us grounded with prayers for Palestine
Jonathan’s Recommendations
God has good things to say about Politics
More important than what people have to say about God’s Word is what God’s Word is saying to us. So in this political season, a team of us at Intervarsity created the free, five-part Bible study series, God’s Good News about Politics. The series is an entry way toward the inner work necessary to put Jesus on the throne of our hearts when it comes to the stewardship of resources and power in this world. When we started KTF Press, we invited people to leave colonized faith by following leaders who are doing their work from marginalized communities. This study creates a space for us to follow Jesus and commune with one another to accomplish just that. Along with our anthology and my book Twelve Lies, this study is a sincere invitation to encounter God with scripture and to engage with Jesus as Lord over all things, including politics.
- Jump in to God’s Good News About Politics
Ten Years Later: How Mike Brown Changed Dr. Jemar Tisby’s Life
Police officer Darren Wilson killed Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014. Author Dr. Jemar Tisby writes on the lasting impact of Brown’s murder on his own spiritual journey and vocational direction. Dr. Tisby had a following. He was growing a platform and garnering attention within reformed evangelical spaces. But when Mike Brown was turned from a human to a hashtag, Tisby, his organization, and his work were no longer the same. The White evangelical reactions to his work changed as well. This article shows us some of his inner process and models for all of us the reflective work we need to be doing when historic events force a fork in the road. All of us should be asking similar questions about stories like Brown’s. Where do we see the impact of these events on our personal and professional lives? How is Jesus calling us to respond? What gets in the way of us hearing His voice and saying “yes?”
Sy’s Recommendations
The Vast Numbers of New Disabilities Israel’s Genocide Is Creating
A recent essay from The Atavist that is both deeply painful and beautiful tells the heart-wrenching story of a 14-year-old Palestinian girl named Layan Albaz who lost four family members and both her legs in an Israeli airstrike. Israel allowed Layan to fly to Chicago for surgery and rehabilitation. The piece highlights her relationship with her Jordanian-American host family, and the lengths to which they went to convince a young stranger that she was safe and loved as she coped with—and loudly expressed—unimaginable trauma, sadness, and rage. On top of all that, Layan has to wrestle with the ableism she has learned from the world and what it has to say about her newly disabled body. Israel’s violence in Palestine has amounted to a mass disabling event on an unprecedented scale, given the size of the population. But simultaneously, Israel has decimated most of Palestine’s healthcare infrastructure, including its only facility for manufacturing prosthetics. Disabilities, psychological and physical, are a lesser-discussed product of war and genocide. But they will shape the life of Palestinian society for decades to come. We need to pray fervently about this transition, the millions of lives it will affect, and the justice that we must demand from Israel and its allies like the US.
Freeing the Church from Fatphobia
Since I’ve been reading and thinking about ableism for a couple decades now, I’m somewhat familiar with the often-related subject of fatphobia. But I think to the average person, that word and the idea behind it are new, and hearing about them raises a lot of questions. A recent article in Sojourners features a very helpful interview with Rev. Anastasia E. B. Kidd, author of Fat Church: Claiming a Gospel of Fat Liberation. Rev. Kidd takes us through some of the basics. The medical world has categorized Obesity as a disease when it’s not in fact a health issue for many people. With similar inaccuracy, most of us have internalized the message that being fat is a moral failure of one kind or another. These ideas go hand-in-hand with racism, classism, and financial exploitation by the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Rev. Kidd advises people for whom these concepts are new to learn as much as possible (and her book is one resource she recommends). Hopefully we can start to change these systems as we find freedom from the shame and anxiety so many of us feel about the size and shape of our bodies.
Staying Grounded with Jonathan
As Sy mentioned last week, we recently heard the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac speak in person at Riverside Church. I am still processing what he shared, but what his words have already driven me to do is pray. So I want to share the Psalms I wrote after the event. I wrote three prayers, one each for Gaza, Rev. Isaac, and students returning this fall. I patterned my prayers for Gaza after the Lord’s Prayer, my prayers for Reverend Isaac after the Prayer of St. Francis, and my prayers for students after the Franciscan Benediction. Intercessory prayer may not change our circumstances, but it surely changes who we are, molding us into people dependent and centered on Jesus, preparing us to advocate more effectively for justice. In this coming season, that is what I want for myself. I pray the same for you.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Jonathan and Sy