by James Melson | Jan 12, 2023 | 2023, Weekly Reflection
As Christmas becomes a memory and we move into this new year, it is easy to forget the part of the Biblical story of the child Jesus after the familiar scenes in Bethlehem. Following the visit of the Magi (wise men), there is the terrifying account of king Herod’s...
by James Melson | Jan 4, 2023 | 2023, Weekly Reflection
New Year’s Day of 2023 marked the 160th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Most Americans know that this is related to the end of slavery in our nation. Yet the proclamation itself is an example of the complex and unfinished journey of freedom and racial...
by James Melson | Nov 30, 2022 | 2022, Weekly Reflection
This Thursday December 1 marks the 67th anniversary of one of the most famous events in the modern Civil Rights Movement. That day Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery, AL city bus. This became the spark for the...
by James Melson | Nov 21, 2022 | 2022, Weekly Reflection
This Thursday is Thanksgiving, a time to reflect and give thanks for our lives individually, as families, and as Americans. Yet giving thanks does not mean ignoring the very real pains and tragedies of life. The killings at universities in Virginia and Idaho and the...
by James Melson | Nov 16, 2022 | 2022, Weekly Reflection
Three UVA Students Killed in November 13 Campus Shooting Ruby Bridges, Federal Marshalls, and Protesters – November 1960 The awful litany of school related violence continued this week as three student athletes were killed in a campus shooting at the University...
