For the Facing of This Hour: Preaching That Resists White Christian Nationalism : Sermons from the Myers Park Baptist Church Free Pulpit 2016 To 2021

Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement that it is "midnight in America" is as true as ever, with our democracy and faith in grave danger from the threat of White Christian Nationalism. How will we face the critical hour that lies before us?

In "For the Facing of this Hour: Preaching that Resists White Christian Nationalism," Boswell offers spiritual resources, biblical insight, and theological tools for people of faith to resist the deadly ideology of White Christian Nationalism in their families, churches, neighborhoods, and communities. Each of the sermons in this collection was preached at Myers Park Baptist Church (Charlotte, North Carolina) on a Sunday immediately following one of the many tragic social and political events of the last five years: mass shootings, police killings of Black Americans, the Muslim travel ban, child and family separation at our southern border, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and numerous other instances of homophobia, patriarchy and misogyny. Boswell's biblical, spiritual, and theological reflections speak directly to these events, which find their origins and legitimization in White Christian Nationalism.

This collection details how America and the Church have been taken captive by this deadly ideology, which promotes a culture of imperialism, misogyny, toxic masculinity, exceptionalism, racism, whiteness, xenophobia, patriarchy, homophobia, and greed. The last five years have revealed how widespread the racial, theological, and political disease of White Christian Nationalism has become and the lengths to which its adherents are willing to go, and Boswell's challenge was to address each revelation from the pulpit within days. How will we face this unimaginable moment in American history? These sermons proclaim that we are in desperate need of people of faith and good conscience who have the courage and resolve to stand up and resist, so that we can find a new way forward, create beloved community, reclaim our faith, and build a more just and compassionate world.