Issue 63 - From the Editor

Photo by Stephanie McCabe on Unsplash

By Jonathan Ho

People rushing into the Capitol building, sharp disagreement in the news and at home. This is the start of 2021.

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As January rolled around, I hoped 2021 would not be like 2020.

In the United States, 2020 saw the start of the pandemic leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths, the repeated exposure of injustices done to Black Americans, and a time of great division both in the general public and in the Church. We’ve seen the dark histories of famous Christian leaders exposed and seen churches publicly wrestle with what it means to be the Church during a pandemic. It is a sad and difficult time for many.

It is during this time that many of us find ourselves stuck between indecision and action. Do we join one of the many fights around us? Or should we stop and reflect first? What do we do when the world feels more disjointed and more fragile than we had previously imagined? And as a magazine, how should we address these problems?

At first, I wanted to give you, our readers, tools for dealing with conflict during this time of great division. What is the difference between behaviors, values, beliefs, and worldviews? What defines the issues we fight for versus what we let go? Or how do we respect impact versus intent? Or what are the effects of social media upon our brains, hearts, and communities? All of these tools and collections of facts and observations are important, but they also can end up leading us astray.

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (see 1 Corinthians 8). Tools for dealing with division are helpful, but more a reflection of what I want, and not necessarily a reflection of you, our reader.

As I worked with our team, I realized I had been blind to something important... love. Too often, well-intentioned Christians (such as myself) want to jump into the fray, taking our seemingly well-thought ideas out to those around us without taking the time to actually listen first and to give care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Thankfully, my team helped me to understand this blind spot.

While these tools may be important, it’s even more important that we care for you, the readers, who have gone through a very difficult and tumultuous year. Some of you have lost loved ones, and others have become depressed by the isolation and lack of in person contact and touch. Still others have had difficulty with job situations and paying the bills.

In this issue, we have three articles: first, Jonathan Faulkner brings in the importance of rituals and tradition to anchor us not only by ourselves, but with both our local church communities and as the Church overall.* Next, Derek Lee brings in a powerful way of seeing our role as followers of Christ. How does what Jesus did reflect directly upon our times? Finally, Brandon Morgan, lovingly but firmly, speaks to our need to strengthen our proverbial legs and join the King rather than stand for ourselves. In between the articles we have also included a practice reflection on love and also some reminders as we start this new year.

As we go into this year, I pray our hearts may find our hope in Christ and that this prayer of King David would be true of our own hearts:

My heart is not proud, Lord,

    my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

    or things too wonderful for me.

But I have calmed and quieted myself,

    I am like a weaned child with its mother;

    like a weaned child I am content.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord

    both now and forevermore.

-Psalm 131, NIV

May our hearts not be proud, and may we calm and quiet ourselves upon God. May our hope rest in Christ both now and forevermore. We pray that God would bless you through this edition and start your year off with his peace and joy guarding your hearts and relationships.

 Jonathan Ho

 P.S. As always, please share your thoughts with us at hello@projectarctos.com or visit our website at www.projectarctos.com where you may learn about our online opportunities focused on communing with God, connecting with one another, and creating together. We look forward to connecting more with you in the months to come.

*Here, I would describe local church communities as those we’re all familiar with: the people you see each Sunday during the church service. Church with a big “C” stands for all followers of Christ together as one body.