We have taken the baton.
We will need to pass it soon. The race is too long to try to run the entire distance.
We are in it to win it
for one another.
The Rev. Dr. David N. Moore, Jr. (he/him/) is a pastor, theologian, human rights advocate, story-listener, adjunct university professor, and writer living in Santa Barbara.
David is a University of California Santa Barbara alum and leads Santa Barbara’s Beloved Community Church, and also Jesus Collective, an online community which exists to foster wholeness and equity by healing relationships and cultural divides, honoring the dignity of all peoples, and protecting the biodiversity of our planet, through actively listening, understanding, partnering, and serving.
In 2019 he presented his book, “Making America Great Again: Fairy Tale, Horror Story, Dream Come True?” at The Parliament of the World’s Religions.
David’s Master’s degree is from St. Stephen’s University in New Brunswick, Canada. He earned his doctorate in theology at the University of South Africa. David and Diane have been married for 44 years and are proud of their five adult children – Charity, David, Matthew, Jared and Christian.
True Friends
Audre Lorde wrote, “Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.”
David enjoys friends that he is teaching and learning from as well. It’s Communion and it restores rather than drains.
More treasured friends:
"I have known Pastor David for over 35 years and words are inadequate to describe the impact of influence he has had on my and Sayuri's lives. Not only has he been a lifegiving guide to us but he has also given us precious spaces to ask difficult but necessary questions with respect to religion, politics, race and power (individual and corporate), and more importantly to process them within communal contexts. For these gifts, we are indebted and ever grateful."
私たちの日常の中にいそうでいない、いなさそうでいる…(こんなこと言ったら何か勘違いされそうかもだけど)今まで出会った人たちの中で一番イエス・キリストを連想させる、そんな人です。
Kenichi and Sayuri Yoshida, and Maya
We Have Already Won
Desmond Tutu spoke to a crowd in Soweto nearly 3 decades before the end of Apartheid.
He shouted, “We have already won!"
Here I speak to you with the confidence that we, too, have already won.
Getting Through the Troubles
We have all experienced loss, perhaps some more than others, including the deaths of loved ones, the deaths of friendships/relationships, and the deaths of dreams and plans.
Humanity makes everything better. Humanity saves. Humanity heals. Humanity will get us through the troubles. Humanity looks for our common better day.
You could replace “humanity” in those short sentences with “Jesus,” and they’d say the same thing. Jesus called himself “The Human One,” a much better translation than “Son of Man.”
Jesus did not come to make Christians; he came to make humans, to validate us. Since he came to make us human, shouldn’t our religion be “Humanity” instead of “Christianity?”
Here’s a bird’s-eye view of, not only what we have and are experiencing individually, but our shared loss. We can’t afford to pretend they are not there. Only after reflecting on these things will we be able to move forward.
Unholy Rage
David spotlights the systemic hate toward innocent humans
and how we overcome.
Holy Rage
Without rage we will have no courage.