#1 again, because I'm going to do my best to never forget it, and #2.

Retreat was absolutely wonderful. And now we're back, and back to work.

If you watch this 1:00 commercial for the premiere of A Time For Burning on TV, it should illustrate the challenge that I feel every day now, particularly when I go into work. A challenge that we are all facing.

The 2:01 clip that you can find somewhere on the right-hand side is a longer speech in Ernie Chambers' barber shop that is also important. Ernie Chambers was a state senator for Nebraska, representing North Omaha (where I'm sleeping these days) from 1971-2009. I think he would still be in office if the term limits bill hadn't been passed in 2000.

At anti-racism training this weekend, our trainer used the phrase "deeply annoying", which I later dove deeper into by thinking out loud about it in discussion, to describe white people who make a show of showing that they "get it" with regards to white privilege (particularly around people of color).  Probably relatedly, training also got me thinking more about the idea of "positive whiteness."

I have absolutely no desire to be deeply annoying and will try my hardest not to be. However, I'm not going to be silent anymore.

Jesus was a radical leader for social justice because he said "Love your neighbor." That was it. Not just my white neighbors with whom I navigate Whole Foods (and by the way, I think part of positive whiteness for me is that I like shopping at Whole Foods). As Alexie Torres-Fleming put it at theological conference a few weeks ago, "Some of (the children of God) have their pants hanging off their butts, and some of them do not." Some of our neighbors today don't speak English as fluently as they do in their first language, just like neighbors 90 years ago who were coming from all over Europe to get jobs. Some of our neighbors are struggling with fears that they are not voicing because of shame or because they don't think it's a big deal and they can take care of themselves.

These are neighbors to you and me and Christians are called to love them, and that's why Jesus works for me, not because of the words and actions of my Christian neighbors that don't seem to compare to what he taught.

And love does not mean dominate, laugh off, or trivialize. Love means respect, so that when peace comes, it comes with justice. (Thanks, LVC.)

So, onward, taking time for self-care, even when we have to be transplanted to the middle of Iowa to give it to ourselves. I promise to take that time here on the eastern edge of Nebraska, too.

In that spirit, this link will take you to a beautiful song.