Before Jesus walked the earth, Christ walked with creation. Long before Roman coins bore the face of Caesar and long before European churches adorned their walls with pale-skinned messiahs, the essence of Christ already existed—not as a crown-wearing conqueror, but as the sacred rhythm between Creator and creation. What Jesus revealed was not new—it was a return. Christ is not a European. Christ is not a political mascot. Christ is not a king enthroned by conquest. Christ is a way of being, and that way is indigenous to the earth itself. Christ Was Before Jesus “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” —John 1:1 This “Word”—the Logos—isn’t just information or doctrine. It is divine pattern. A life aligned with justice, humility, harmony, and truth. Indigenous cultures understood this long before the arrival of missionaries. The Christ pattern was known: In the reciprocity with the land In the respect for the ancestors I...
I didn’t always respect the way we speak. At 50-something years old, I can admit that plainly now. For most of my life, I saw what is now called African American Vernacular English—AAVE—as ignorant speech. I wouldn’t have used that exact phrasing back then, but the belief was there. Quiet. Unexamined. Reinforced by school, media, and the subtle rewards of fitting in. I spoke what people call “proper English.” Some would say I “talked white.” And to be honest—it served me well. In corporate environments, my speech opened doors. It made conversations smoother. It lowered resistance. It made white colleagues more comfortable. There’s an unspoken ease that comes when you sound familiar to the dominant culture. You are heard faster. Questioned less. Accepted sooner. At the time, it felt like success. Now, it feels more complicated. The Comfort We Learned to Provide There’s a thought I heard recently that stuck with me: “Proper speech is considered better because it is more acceptable ...