I’m going on sabbatical! On January 1st I will begin a three month sabbatical from my work as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church, White Bear Lake. I’ve thought about this moment for a long time and after thirteen years and eight months of ministry it’s time for a break.

As a religious leader the answer troubles me. The people most opposed to God in their midst were the religious leaders - the very people who were supposed to be serving God and encouraging God’s people to do the same

A couple of months ago I was accused on social media of being entangled in a political narrative. I was told I needed to sacrifice, “the obsession with [my] political narrative.” It’s not a new accusation, I’ve been accused of it many times and it’s false, or at least partially false.

I write for myself, a misfit, an immigrant, a citizen of two nations and a resident of a third, a follower of Jesus seeking to live my life in a way that honours him.

We all saw it coming. Trump made no secret of how he was going to nominate people to the Supreme Court as Mitch McConnell prevented President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland from getting a hearing.

Who will break the cycle of violence?

It’s disturbing to me that so many on the right of the political spectrum are demonizing the term “woke.” If they want to use it as a pejorative term then it says more about them than it does about those who are interested in developing a greater awareness and understanding of the issues of racism and other social injustices facing our world today.

A middle-aged gentleman stood off the road to my left, he was leaning against a signpost holding a piece of cardboard with the words, “Please Help,” written on it.

No nation of this world can claim my “true faith and allegiance.” I will always work, as Jeremiah calls us to, for “the peace and prosperity of the city” in which I live as an exile, but I will always stand as a foreigner who has thoughts and ideas that are strange in this world.

“If you stop, the sound stops, everything stops.”

“What’s today’s event?” Asked dad. “It’s called ‘Trouble Over the Bridge’ with selected readings from the play and a panel discussion.” Dad then began to go into the history of the play. Recalling the controversy around Sam Thompson’s theatrical examination of sectarianism in the shipyards of Belfast in the 1950s, a stark reminder that the religious and political bigotry that led to “The Troubles” was deeply ingrained in the culture well ahead of 1969.

As a young Protestant boy growing up in Belfast my imagination wasn’t nearly creative enough to picture a scenario where the Pope would send personal greetings to an ecumenical gathering at the Anglican cathedral where his biographer was going to be speaking.

The love of our neighbors is a command not a suggestion. Taking care of the “least of these” is the measure by which we shall be judged. If we don’t take notice and pursue a more equitable and just world then we have blood on our hands.

Ask any pastor if they have had people try to have them “cancelled” and, if they trust you and are willing to share, every one of them will have numerous stories to share. The reality is that almost all of the attempts to cancel pastors have little if anything to do with theology, it’s almost always, politics and personalities.