Christmas Wishes for the Adventist Church

Spectrum Staff | December 19, 2010

Brother Matt Hunt recently shared with me this video of deeply conservative Catholic legal scholar, Robert P. George, and Princeton professor and chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, Cornel West, dialoguing on Bloggingheads.com.

Their conversation is filled with so many compelling insights into matters of politics, faith, and education that I thought I would share it here as a model of how public conversations between people who take both their Christianity and the life of the mind seriously can and should sound.

My wish this Christmas and in the New Year, for myself and for the Adventist church, is that we discover what it means to be truly prophetic voices in a deeply polarized world. May we learn how to stand (as George says) as “a sign of contradiction”, marked by our scandalous civility, respect, and even deep friendship across our many differences.

I invite others to respond to the George/West conversation and to share their Christmas wishes and prayers for the Adventist community below.

(And may we have the good grace, generosity of spirit, and common sense not to use this occasion to heap coals of harsh words on the sincere hopes and prayers of others. Verily, he that giveth lumps of coal unto others shall receive lumps of coal for Christmas in return.)

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