Already and Not Yet

It is the first week of August, and the high summer heat of treaty 6 territory in northern Alberta is beaming through my window.  I am thinking about the fall.  I work with university students, and I am wondering how my students and I can think together about all that has happened since we’ve last been together, in March: a global pandemic that has thrown everyone’s lives – and particularly the lives of those on the margins – off-kilter, an inspiring movement for racial justice that prompted many difficult and potentially transformative conversations, record-breaking temperatures

This article is part of our ongoing series tracking the many changes in immigration legislation.  You can access the full series here.

7/6: ICE announced that international students on M-1 and F-1 visas in the U.S. will have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only courses this fall, which many are doing because of COVID-19.

I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name, I will lift my hands. (Ps. 63)

Raising our hands is an outward expression of an inward posture. God permits us to respond in many ways as we worship and pray to Him.  A healthy spiritual life and worship life will seek a balance in our postures.  

The last few weeks have been both difficult and inspiring, challenging and moving.  An apocryphal saying attributed to African theologian and bishop Augustine of Hippo says that ‘hope has two beautiful daughters.

Mark this down: May 2020 was the month that America woke up to the original cry of the original pandemic. What happened? The hunting and killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia happened in March 2020. The video of the father and son, team McMicheals’ possible crimes did not gain traction until the first week of May. The killing of Breonna Taylor, an inspiring emergency medical technician, was mistakenly gunned down in her Louisville apartment in March 2020. The attention of Taylor’s death did not arise until May 2020.

This article is part of our ongoing series tracking the many changes in immigration legislation.  You can access the full series here.

4/30: Federal judge orders ICE to release immigrant detainees from South Florida detention centers

It all started with a science experiment and a group of chicks.  I grabbed one chick and eyeballed it like I was a hungry hawk. When placed back in its box the chick played possum for about a minute seeking a way for self-preservation. Then back up the chick popped, demonstrating a cycle of fear and recovery.

I repeated the experiment, but this time with two chicks at the same time!  This time both chicks remained immobilized for about five minutes - another demonstration of the fear and recovery cycle.  

People on the move due to insecurity in their countries have many anxieties and uncertainties in life. Uganda hosts more than one million refugees that have no hope or plans to return to their home country. This prohibits them thinking positively about going home. Where would be the best place to live and experience the joy and sense of belonging? We have heard refugees asking, “How do we start thinking of going home amidst the lack of commitment to peaceful co-existence due to tribal and ethnic differences in the governing structure?”

Over the past two weeks rhetoric has heated up with regards to race.  I heard one woman question whether COVID-19 was passed through Chinese food.  I’ve heard from Chinese friends that they’ve been targeted with derogatory remarks (and in other cases physical attacks).  Most disturbing, I’ve heard that the Christian community is not immune to spreading these sentiments.  As we discuss this let’s start with the basic fact that there is

Hundreds of protestors gathered at the steps of the Colorado State Capitol to protest Columbus Day and called to abolish the holiday. The protest was about the historical conquest of North America by Europeans, and to call attention to the losses suffered by the Native American peoples and their cultures.