This prayer by Howard Thurman asks God to give the speaker a sense of the future. It expresses the desire to have an outward look and high hopes rather than being "frozen" by the past or present. The speaker asks God, as a patient father, to grant this sense of the future, without which "all life would sicken and die."

1. A Prayer by Howard Thurman
I need Thy sense of the future.
Teach me to know that life is ever
on the side of the future.
Keep alive in me the forward look,
the high hope, the onward surge.
Let me not be frozen, either by
the past or the present.
Gant me, O Patient Father,
Thy sense of the future, without which
all life would sicken and die.

2. A 401-level series
WEEK #1 – 2.24.21

8. June 1, 2020

9. January 6, 2021

10. January 6, 2021

11. January 6, 2021

12. January 6, 2021

13. January 6, 2021

14. …includes assumptions of nativism, white
supremacy, patriarchy and
heteronormativity, along with divine
sanction for authoritarian control and
militarism. It is as ethnic and political
as it is religious…Christian nationalism
contends thatAmerica has been
and should always be distinctively
‘Christian’ from top to bottom —
in its self-identity, interpretations
of its own history, sacred symbols,
cherished values and public policies — and
it aims to keep it this way.

15. …reflects a mind-set that clearly merges
national power and divine authority,
believing God demands American
leadership be wrested from godless
usurpers and entrusted to true patriots
who must be willing to shed blood (their
own and others’) for God
and country. Christian nationalism favors
authoritarian control and what
I call “good-guy violence” for the sake of
maintaining a certain social order.

16. Many observers commented on the jarring
mixture of Christian, nationalist and racist
symbolism amongst the insurrectionists:
there were Christian crosses and Jesus
Saves banners,Trump flags and American
flags,
fascist insignia and a ‘Camp Auschwitz’
hoodie. Some saw apples and oranges. But
it was really a fruit cocktail:
White Christian Nationalism.

17. While many media outlets focused on
decoding the myriad white supremacist signs
and symbols, they too easily screened out the
other most prominent displays: the numerous
crosses, Bibles,
and signs and flags with Christian symbols,
such as the Jesus 2020 flag that was modeled
on theTrump campaign flag… The power of
White supremacy
in America has always been its
ability to flourish within and
be baptized by white Christianity.

18. For evangelicals, domestic and foreign
policy are two sides of the same coin…
Christian nationalism – the belief that
America is God’s chosen nation and must
defended as such – serves as
a powerful predictor of intolerance towards
immigrants, racial minorities, and non-
Christians. It is linked to opposition to gay
rights and gun control, to support for
harsher punishments for criminals, to
justifications for the use of excessive force
against black Americans…

19. …in law enforcement situations,
and to traditionalist gender ideology.
White evangelicals have pieced together
this patchwork of issues,
and a nostalgic commitment to rugged,
aggressive, militant white masculinity
as the thread binding them together into a
coherent whole…For conservative white
evangelicals, the ‘good news’ of the
Christian gospel has become inextricably
linked to a staunch commitment to
patriarchal authority, gender difference…

20. …and Christian nationalism,
and all these are intertwined
with white racial identity.

21. In time (JohnWayne) would…emerge
as an icon of Christian masculinity.
Evangelicals admired (and still admire) him
for his toughness/swagger…
Wayne was not an evangelical Christian
…did not live a moral life by the standards
of traditional Christian virtue.Yet for many
evangelicals,Wayne would come to
symbolize a different set of virtues – a
nostalgic yearning for a mythical
American,’ a return to ‘traditional’ gender
roles, and the re-assertion of (white)
patriarchal authority.

22. A COUPLE
REFLECTIONS
COMPLICITY vs. CULPABILITY:
Simply participating in something vs.
Meriting responsibility for something

23. A COUPLE
REFLECTIONS
COMPLICITY vs. CULPABILITY:
Simply participating in something vs.
Meriting responsibility for something
AN IMPORTANT CAVEAT:
Not all who identify as “evangelical”
are white Christian nationalists (!),
but White Christian Nationalism
is deeply intertwined with,
and theologically dependent on,
white conservative evangelicalism

24. Purpose/Methodology,
Context, Definitions,
and Personal Histories
WEEK #1 – 2.24.21

25. PURPOSE &
METHODOLOGY
Our purpose is NOT to simply
point out what we see as WRONG,
but to PROVIDE an ALTERNATIVE
way FORWARD for those
who want to follow JESUS;
we will do this by highlighting
THEMES in the book, NOT by
going CHAPTER by CHAPTER

26. - Preaching and teaching on:
o Biblical interpretation
o Gender, patriarchy, marriage
o Peaceful, active non-violence
o Race, white supremacy
in the church
o Christian nationalism, in the
past and in our present
CONTEXT to THIS POINT

27. DEFINITIONS
WHITE EVANGELICALISM
Conservative religious/political move.
Kobes’ research revealed this
to be an inadequate description
of the current reality as it has
evolved over the last 50+ years

29. DEFINITIONS
BIBLICAL LITERALISM
Selective/strict interpretation/app.
WHITE EVANGELICALISM
Conservative religious/political move.

30. DEFINITIONS
BIBLICAL LITERALISM
Selective/strict interpretation/app.
GENDER PATRIARCHY
Strict gender binary: Men > Women
WHITE EVANGELICALISM
Conservative religious/political move.

31. DEFINITIONS
BIBLICAL LITERALISM
Selective/strict interpretation/app.
GENDER PATRIARCHY
Strict gender binary: Men > Women
VIOLENT MILITARISM
Redemptive violence required
WHITE EVANGELICALISM
Conservative religious/political move.

32. DEFINITIONS
WHITE SUPREMACY:
Priority of white people over others

33. DEFINITIONS
WHITE SUPREMACY:
Priority of white people over others
PATRIOTIC NATIONALISM:
Your nation God-favored > others

34. DEFINITIONS
INDUSTRIAL EVANGELICAL
CONSUMER COMPLEX:
Media distribution machine
PATRIOTIC NATIONALISM:
Your nation God-favored > others
WHITE SUPREMACY:
Priority of white people over others

36. - Church of Christ/Christian Church
- Lots of white theological/biblical
perspectives/interpretations
- Promise Keepers rallies/influences
- Conservative talk radio, Dobson
and Focus On the Family
- Republicans > Democrats
- Prayer of Jabez, WWJD, etc.
- Charismatic spirituality w/heavily
patriarchal approach to life/marriage
- Started to “wake up” post 9/11
PERSONAL HISTORY

37. - What are your experiences
with these topics?
- What thoughts/feelings does
this discussion bring up in you?
- Any other thoughts/questions/
reflections to discuss?
HOW ABOUT YOU?

38. PURPOSE
Our purpose is NOT to simply
point out what we see as WRONG
or that we DISAGREE with, but
to PROVIDE an ALTERNATIVE
way FORWARD for those who
want to follow JESUS

40. WHERE WE GO FROM
HERE
3.3 = Biblical Literalism and
Alternative Hermeneutics
3.10 = Gender Patriarchy and
Egalitarian Equality
3.17 =Violent Militarism and
Active Non-Violence
3.24 =White Supremacy and
Loving God/People
3.31 = Patriotic Nationalism and
Kingdom Citizenship

41. The Jesus Creed
Hear O’ Israel
the LORD our God,
the LORD is one;
You shall love the LORD your God
with all your heart, will all your soul,
with all your mind, and with all your strength,
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment
greater than these.
Amen.