Today I attended a worship service at a church which I believe is struggling to authentically enact and understand the radical communion (“common union”) of the Kingdom reality. Its musical worship did not consistently feel like it measured up to this commitment, though. Week after week, in this church and in others, I find myself […]
Author Archive: Solidarity Uganda
Evangelical Pennsylvania’s Diluted Faith
In the town where I grew up, every church is pretty much an evangelical church. The poorly-attended mainline and Catholic churches are usually no exception. The language clergy use is highly individualistic and the “goal” of most congregations is to get more people into heaven (i.e. “accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior”). […]
Christmas: What Ugandan Dictators can learn from the late Roman Tyrants
What President of the NRM regime, Yoweri K. Museveni, must learn from the late Roman tyrants (the richest, most powerful people in world history, given inflation), whose power was threatened by the birth of a little Jewish kid in a barn: If you want to steal land to expand your empire, train your men under […]
What life in Uganda has to do with Sandy Hook violence
When I first began living with a Ugandan family, even in an urban setting, I had trouble sitting still. My body was jittery. The ninth-grade drummer in me couldn’t stop tapping on furniture to break the silence. I sat in a dark room for hours at a time, dwelling in the ambiance of human breath and […]
Women: The Stronger Gender
I remember visiting both the men’s and women’s prisons in Lira with Pastor Ogwang-Ocen (my “omara,” meaning we wedded women of the same village). The jails in Lira were a good experience every time, particularly the ladies’ side. Some women were guilty, and others innocent – guilty murderers and also victims of wrongful blame – […]