From “A House Divided: Engaging the Issues through the Politics of Compassion” by Mark Feldmeir As political theorist and community activist Saul Alinsky once said, “People cannot be truly free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the freedom of others.” This is the very spirit of democracy. It is […]
The price of democracy is our mutual commitment to our common life. Read More »
From “A House Divided: Engaging the Issues through the Politics of Compassion” by Mark Feldmeir Axiom #2: “Good health is a crown on the head of a well person that only a sick person can see,” and illness is a cross borne by the unsuspecting. Rarely do we acknowledge the undeserved blessing of good health.
Rarely do we acknowledge the undeserved blessing of good health Read More »
One common misconception about Jesus is that his earthly ministry was defined primarily by his teaching and preaching. But read the gospels carefully and you will find that the majority of his time and energy were committed to healing and caring for the sick. There are 37 miracles of Jesus recorded in the gospels, 31
“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” Read More »
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” It was a beautiful ideal – an aspiration of the values America sought to stand for. But the ideal was
Anti-immigrant sentiment Read More »
Homesickness – the longing for home. Frederick Buechner points out that the word “longing” comes from the same root as the word “long,” in the sense of length and time, as in, “it’s a long line,” or “it was a long time ago.” So, the word “longing” has its origin in time and distance. But
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So, what can we do? Where do we go from here? Can I offer three suggestions? First, if you’re white, listen to people, especially to people of color, who are willing to share about their experiences of racism. By doing so, you will become a more informed student of history and of place so that
If we want to understand racism in the U.S., as uncomfortable as it might be for us, we have the moral responsibility to open our eyes and see our society more truthfully, and to become more receptive to what it is like to be black in the U.S. Here are some astonishing statistics that may
We have the moral responsibility to open our eyes and see our society more truthfully Read More »
I do not presume to have arrived on the issue, or to be “woke.” I simply want to share with you what I have discovered on my own journey toward greater awareness of racism in America, and with my own participation in systems, both visible and hidden, that perpetuate it. I want to begin with
Greater awareness of racism Read More »
Baltimore, Ferguson, Charlottesville, Charleston. Trevon, Tamir, Sandra, Philando, and Freddie. Kaepernick, Serena, Barkley, and Lebron. White supremacy, white privilege, white fragility, and woke. “Hands up, don’t shoot.” “I can’t breathe.” Black Lives Matter. These are just some of the people, places, controversies, and catchphrases that have come to define the complexities of today’s conversation about
How can we talk about race without the defensiveness, reflexivity, and scapegoating? Read More »
A Christian response to climate change begins with reclaiming the intimate connection humans once had with creation through simple practices such as gardening, animal husbandry, composting, harvesting rainwater, birdwatching, spending more time in nature, and learning more about the indigenous peoples who came before us. These are just a few of the countless ways that
A Christian response to climate change Read More »
In the debate over climate change, does it not make logical sense to take out a life insurance policy on the planet? If there is any chance that the prevailing science is right about climate change, as the vast majority of climate scientists suggest, then we have a moral obligation to do what we can
We have a moral obligation Read More »
If, for ideological reasons, we cannot agree that human activity contributes to climate change, then we should consider it pragmatically, through the lens of risk-reward analysis. Even if we cannot prove the veracity of human-caused climate change, the most prudent approach is to act as if it is true. This is because if it is
When the cost of error is too high, the wise hedge their bets. Read More »
For Jesus, a politics of love manifests itself in the form of compassion, which in Latin means literally to “suffer with another.” Genuine compassion evokes a deep concern for the suffering and well-being of neighbor, and is expressed most fully in the “basileia tou theou,” the Kingdom of God. Life lived in the Kingdom of
Three core commitments Read More »
