The RTD's editorial yesterday said it well: plans at the Dove World Outreach Church, in Florida, to burn Qurans on the anniversary of 9/11 is simply unacceptable.

Those plans are also un-American and un-Christian. Surely this is clear to most anyone.

Meanwhile, let us pray for a miracle; let us pray for a change of heart.

After all, all things are possible with God.

In today's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ reflects on the following reflection by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton:

The quote comes from her book, The Almost Daily eMos: Mostly Reverent Emails. It is a collection of Crafton's popular e-mail meditations by the same name. In addition to writing, Barbara Cawthorne Crafton is an Episcopal priest and spiritual director. She has served as rector of St. Clement's Church in Manhattan's Theatre district; as a chaplain on the waterfront of New York; as a chaplain at Ground Zero during the recovery effort after the WTC bombing; and at both historic Trinity Church, Wall Street and St. John's Church in Greenwich Village. 

Click here to read the full Word from Grace Street.

A NYT article yesterday reports on the question many American Muslims are asking, "Will we ever belong?"

I pray that America will have the compassion, the integrity, and, if nothing else, the self-respect to answer that question in the affirmative, and resoundingly so. It is painful that American Muslims even ask the question. It is, alas, to America's shame.

Indeed, America is better than that.

Let us pray that we Americans will be true to ourselves.

The world is watching.

And so is God.

Photo by Mark Lyons for New York Times

Verlyn Klinkenborg's column, "Really Looking," is a welcome and refreshing "witness to the moment," as he puts it. (This post takes its title from his mini essay.) Indeed, Klinkenborg opens my eyes on a regular basis.

And Raimon Panikkar, who died in recent days (and whose obituary was published over the weekend), spent his entire life, it would seem, opening the eyes of his fellow Christians; and the eyes of people of other faiths as well, I'm sure. I had not read Panikkar previously, but just what I read of him and his writing in his NYT obituary was exhilarating.

I give thanks for Verlyn Klinkenborg, and for Raimon Panikkar, both in their own ways helping to open the eyes of humanity.

As faith leaders from around Richmond, and across traditions, gathered at Richmond's Islamic Center yesterday, I was struck by the spirit in the room. It reminded me of the spirit in the crowd when a contingent of St. Paul's folks joined the gathering at VCU, back during Lent, to protest the Attorney General's legal opinion barring Virginia's colleges and universities from protecting gay and lesbian people from discrimination. Likewise it reminded me of the spirit in the air about a week earlier in Lent when I, along with a number of St. Paul's clergy and our Lenten Preacher at the time, joined a rally for inclusive communities at VCU. And, still one more occasion, the spirit in the air when the St. Paul's clergy and community joined a witness for peace at Richmond's Holocaust Museum, when we faced off with the Westboro Baptist Church and their message of hate.

There is, indeed, an unmistakable joy and an unmistakable peace that come when you stand up for justice, when you stand up for compassion, when you stand up for humanity.

Thanks be to God.

Amen, amen.

To read more about yesterday's gathering at Richmond's Islamic Center, please go to the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Don't see the video below? Click here.

Now Available!

I've published a book on the issuu.com Web site. It's called "When the Sand Castle Crumbles," and it's for pastors and members of churches that were thriving in the fifties but now struggling to survive. It's free, it's online, and you can read the whole thing in less than an hour.

The book grew out of five sermons I delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church during the 2010 Lenten Luncheon series, as I shared my thoughts about why so many churches in America seem to be dying and what can be done about it. My hope then (and now) is that these words would be an encouragement to those churches, and help them re-imagine their mission.

Here's an excerpt from the introduction:

Click on "Read More" below to continue reading the excerpt, learn more about the book, and listen to one of the sermons Jim references above.

A new study out by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that illegal immigration into the United States is down, and very much so, over the last decade: a 67% reduction to be exact.

What do we make then of a rising chorus of voices in our country denouncing illegal immigration and blaming illegal immigrants for all manner of things?

Well, sadly, I think Frank Rich has it right when he speaks of "the latest minority groups to enter the pantheon of American scapegoats, Hispanic immigrants and Muslims" (as I quoted in Sunday's sermon).

Lord, drive from our hearts all bigotry, and help us to be the people you call us to be, people of compassion, justice, and generosity.

As the German Blitzkrieg rolled into Poland, and World War II began, on the morning of September 1, 1939, W.H. Auden sat in a New York City dive, writing the poem that would take for its name simply the date itself, "September 1, 1939."

In what would become one of the most-widely-known lines in all modern poetry, Auden wrote, "We must love one another or die."

As true now as ever.

We must love one another or die.

Lord, help us to love.

Help us to love.

Amen, amen.