Category: Pedro S. Silva II

  • Do Not Resist Evil?

    Do Not Resist Evil?

    “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak…

  • Rise and Shine: Dispel the Darkness By Being the Light

    On November 15, 2016, a week after the election of DJT, two friends and I facilitated a mindfulness meditation on dismantling racism that we called, “Peeking Through the Blinds”. Kara Dansky, of One Thousand Arms led us through the meditations and Brian Rocheleau (aka Rosh), of The Blind Cafe, provided the music. I set up…

  • “LieVersity” and “In-True-Sion”: What People Aren’t Saying About Why Diversity Programs Fail

    I am a minister now largely because working as a consultant on a “Diversity Recruiting” Program for a large multi-national company frustrated me so deeply that I enrolled into seminary just to see if I could learn what it would take for a person or organization to have a true conversion experience. Most people who…

  • Everybody Hates Christians

    Don’t let the title of this post fool you. If you’re thrown off by this image and the title then chances are you have never heard of the show from the early 2000s based on the life of comedian Chris Rock as a teenager. The show was entitled “Everybody Hates Chris” and chronicled the awkward…

  • On Being A Single Mother In A Married Father’s Body

    Today I came across this post that I wrote for an older blog 3 years ago. With so many different family configurations, I felt that this might be a good post to share again. Recently, I hit a wall with trying to express some of my outlooks on the world when it hit me that…

  • If You Don’t Bear Your Cross, Someone Else Will Have To

    On July 17, 2016, I preached a sermon entitled “Broken For You”. The idea behind the sermon came down to the idea that if people took 100% responsibility for their lives the whole world would be transformed in an instant. The spark for the sermon came from Jesus’ teaching that those who desire to follow…

  • Do Your Names and Labels Define You?

    How do you relate to the labels that have been assigned to you or that you have assumed?  Are they prisons that bind you or do they demonstrate choices that you have made and relationships that you are a part of? Do you define the labels or do the labels define you? Here is a…

  • The Audience That Isn’t There

    Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom…

  • God Is Still Seeking

    “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in…

  • Who Does Jesus Belong To?

    John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.…