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When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice?

June 4, 2020 /

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice?

Is it when they are nominated to the position by the President and confirmed by the Senate?
Is it when they were appointed to a lifetime appointment on the Federal Bench?
Is it when they went to work for a prestigious law firm?
Is it when they served as a clerk for a Supreme Court justice?
Is it when they were admitted to a top law school?
Is it when they were admitted to their undergraduate institution?
Is it when they graduated from high school?
Is it when they attended a well funded and supplied elementary school?
Is it when they had access to health care and food on the table as a child?
Is it when their parent was paid a livable wage?
Is it when their mother had access to prenatal care?

The answer is, YES, to all of these. And the break in any one link the chain can close the door for a person sitting on the bench. When we speak of systemic racism, it is a recognition all of life is a connected system, and injustice in one link can have dramatic implications on another.

I am not a fan of affirmative action. I think that a person should be selected based solely on their skills and ability to perform the job. I think that colleges should not be required to admit certain students but should be allowed to choose the best and brightest regardless of skin color or gender. I think that employers should be allowed to have workforces that are made up of the best for the job and not be required to consider race or gender in their hiring practices. I think that the color of a person’s skin or whether they are male or female should not matter. We should base these opinions solely on who is the best for the job.

So what do we do when we see a lack of diversity in the workforce, on our college campuses, in government jobs, in the pulpits of our churches? We say the reason a woman, a Hispanic or an African American, was not hired for the job is that none applied, or there were none qualified who applied. And it is true. But it also hides another truth. The reason none were qualified is that none were given a chance to be qualified.

I wish I could say that left to themselves, employers, healthcare, church, and education systems will choose to do what is right. But we know better. Left to ourselves, we will all choose the path of greatest comfort and familiarity. A way that will not open the door.  A path that will draw red lines around who is in and who is outside of our community. It is for these reasons these programs are put into place. On our own, we will remain blind to what we must do and have been doing.

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice . . . today.

Blessings,
Stephen

Today’s resource is the video Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man shared with me by a friend. The video is produced by Emmanuel Acho who is a former NFL Player and current ESPN analyst. Acho answers many of the questions we have. Watch it HERE.

Saying Thanks

November 25, 2014 /

It's Greek

Dear Friends,

Those of us who regularly endure the trauma of social media have probably seen the daily posts of people expressing their thanks in the month of November. Not to be left out, I started to think about those in my life who are long overdue for me to say “thanks” to. And by long I mean, at least ten years overdue.

If you are one of the few who has survived the Biblical Studies major at Northwest Nazarene College (now University) the journey took you though 5 terms of New Testament Greek. While the ranks were large the first day of Greek 1 by the 5th class the trail laid strewn with many bloodied bodies.

For my group we were whittled, beat, and carved down to three. Kevin, Bill and myself. The small class size did occasionally lead to tangents by our professor. It was one of these tangents that is forever engraved in my soul. Our professor, Dr. George Lyons, spent the majority of the class period one morning talking about the challenges of singleness, especially for those in the ministry. He advised us that if we ever wanted to change things then we needed to make changes in our lives. We needed to actually ask a girl out. We needed to live in such a way that made us “interesting” to those of the female persuasion. Now there is just one other detail about our trio you should know. Kevin and Bill were married. I was the only single in the class . . . and I was furious. In all the hours I have spent in the classroom I have never been so angry or humiliated. The lecture was clearly directed at only one person in the room: ME. I left the class never wanting to come back. If I had not been so close to graduation I probably would have walked off campus to never return.

Once I calmed down, my respect for the professor and trust of my classmates, brought me back to the class. But it would take months, actually a few years, for the lecture to fully sink in. When it did, I began to make changes to my life. I can still picture in my mind the day I sat in a dorm room in Larrabie-Morris Hall, while attending a different school, looking out over the Lexington Avenue in Wilmore, Kentucky, recalling the advice from that painful day in Greek and finding in it the courage to ask a girl to take the risk to intentionally spend time together. That girl was Laura, and an infuriating lecture in Williams Hall was the place where the ground for our relationship was prepared.

Thank you Dr. Lyons, I learned many things about life and ministry from you during the three years I spent at NNU. Any success I have in life and ministry is partly due to your influence and my failures are likely the product of my falling asleep in class.

To the others who are reading this message, what about you? Are there people in your life who are ten years or more overdue to hear about the influence they have had on your life? People you should say “Thanks!” to?

What better time could there be than now to send them a message?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

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