davidwswanson.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

I worry the people who are just holding on till the mid-term elections or the 2028 presidential election have underestimated what we're living through. I mean, I hope they're right but fear they're too optimistic.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

God bless the preachers who woke up this morning thinking about (next) Sunday's sermon.

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From the conclusion of today's sermon from Luke 2:24-30, "Serving Like Jesus."

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

"Even submitting to crucifixion, [Jesus] has redeemed the world and sung the definitive hymn of victory, the victory that cannot be used for other ends but benefits those who, like Christ, are seeking the true liberation of human beings." - Oscar Romero

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Hey preachers, what's the passage and big idea for your sermon tomorrow? I'll be in Luke 22:44-30, "How we serve one another reflects how Jesus serves us."

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Maya Angelou taught us to believe people when they show us who they are. Well, this presidential administration keeps showing us their Nazi sympathies and we'd be foolish not to believe them. --- Source with video: www.thejc.com/news/usa/ste...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Of all the terrible news from the past month, I’m not sure anything has broken my heart like this story of vulnerable Christians being detained, deported, and imprisoned. Solidarity with Christ is solidarity with these sisters and brothers. Gift article: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/w...

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

While the USA has never only been a nation of immigrants, today I was grateful for this visible declaration of the dignity of every single one of our immigrant neighbors.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

The president wants lift travel restrictions lifted on two indicted rapists and human traffickers. I heard someone describe this administration as "aggressively contemptuous toward women" and I hate how accurate that is. www.newsweek.com/trump-admini...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Things authoritarians and wannabe tyrants say.

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"Melancholy is part of social movement, as is restraint. They are companions. The work of organizing for freedom requires a management of rage that can break your heart." – Imani Perry

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"It’s tempting, for me, when confronted with such objectively degrading slander to respond in kind... Of course, the instant we succumb to dehumanization, the battle has been lost." buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

The richest man in the world, given immense power by the presidential administration, is publicly and unashamedly dehumanizing entire groups of people. The result of this sort of purposeful "us vs them" is always violence. When we say this is spiritual warfare, this is what we mean.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

The richest man in the world, given immense power by the presidential administration, is publicly and unashamedly dehumanizing entire groups of people. The result of this sort of purposeful "us vs them" is always violence. When we say this is spiritual warfare, this is what we mean.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

The consistently shallow exegesis of Roman 13:1 – "be subject to the governing authorities" – has a whole bunch of white evangelicals joyfully welcoming authoritarianism.

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

"Race is not primarily about hate and ignorance. It's about greed. It always has been. And it is the purpose of this book that you might understand the unholy relationship between race and greed, best understood not as a marriage but in terms of parentage: race and racism are children of Mammon."

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

"The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality." - Pope Francis www.vatican.va/content/fran...

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

The impact of their elders' eager embrace of unrepentant thieves, abusers, and racists on a generation of young Christians will be huge. Some are being lured into corrupted religion; others, repulsed, leave faith behind. Good Shepherd, protect your little ones from the wolves in sheep's clothing.

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Next week Dr. Natasha Sistrunk Robinson and I will be talking with our friend @latashamorrison.bsky.social of @bethebridge.bsky.social about her timely new book. I hope you'll join us. Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

"Every time the church evades suffering, it places itself above its Lord. It loses its essence and its mission. It is salt that has lost its flavor." - René Padilla

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

It is a counterfeit Christianity which cheers a president who vows to protect its followers and cheers again as he slashes resources for the marginalized. To his followers, Jesus promises his own cruciform vulnerabilities. To the marginalized, Jesus promises favor.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

"Everybody loves blue. It is human as can be. But everybody doesn't love Black – many have hated it – and that is inhumane. If you don't already, I will make you love it with my blues song."

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

"It is precisely because our technological society is so completely given over to action that the person who retires to their room to pray is the true radical. Everything else will depend on it." - Jaques Ellul, quoted by René Padilla

submitted 20 days ago • 2 comments

In addition to appointing a known racist to a "key State Department role," the Department of Justice will "target private-sector diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives for potential 'criminal investigation.'" We're watching white supremacy be intentionally institutionalized.

submitted 20 days ago • 2 comments

"Pharmaceutical companies were by far the largest beneficiaries of the policy, flocking to the island to take advantage of the lucrative new tax incentives as well as the relatively cheap labor force and the bountiful aquifers.. they could use to manufacture medication."

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

“Essentially, the point being made is that the Palestinians did not exist, or were of no account, or did not deserve to inhabit the country.”

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

Just appointed to the State Department, Darren Beattie believes "competent white men" must be in charge, shithole countries was Trump's "high-point," and a biologist who claims Africans are less intelligent is the "greatest living American scientist." For MAGA, dismantling DEI = empowering racists.

submitted 22 days ago • 2 comments

Thank God for the bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Official! Can you imagine any white denomination holding together broad biblical fidelity with such precise prophetic witness? mailchi.mp/cc1bd07581b0...

submitted 23 days ago • 3 comments

In this week's newsletter, why reconciliation includes repair. buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed... He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision... Happy are all who take refuge in him." - Psalm 2

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

Is our society divided? Yes! But behind the divisions are the powers inciting them for profit. Pundits may get away with vague generalities; not pastors! For the love of the God of truth and the neighbors harmed by our divisions, let our preaching name the plunderers even as we point to our Savior.

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

I think this is absolutely right. Pastors who haven't identified their uncrossable lines will keep finding reasons to accommodate corruption, abuse, and authoritarianism in the name of peace.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Good morning preachers! What's the passage and main point for your sermon tomorrow? I'm preaching from Luke 9:1-9, "Jesus sends representatives of his kingdom by faith."

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Christians will always oppose oppressors, tyrants, and bullies. And because "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers," we'll never dehumanize those we stand against. If we do, we've already lost.

submitted 26 days ago • 2 comments

Made this for supper tonight. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gift link: cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020...

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

"He has been treated to forms of education which have released him from inhibitions. His body is vigorous. His mind is childish. His soul has been almost completely neglected." archive.harpers.org/1941/08/pdf/...

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Lot's of avian activity in Jackson Park on this warm January morning – juncos, bluebirds, cardinals, goldfinches – including this handsome robin chowing down on sumac berries. #birds

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Yesterday I worshiped with our congregation, joined some of our leaders for conversation about our reconciliation journeys, and then met with the our nonprofit board about how to best serve with our neighbors. Especially now, I'm grateful for the quiet and patient gospel witness of Jesus' church.

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

"Racially reconciling congregations will exhibit a preferential option for those who’ve born the brunt of exclusion and exploitation from our racialized society." buttondown.com/david.w.swan...

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments