For over forty years, a minority movement in American evangelicalism stood strong and shouted loud that Jesus and justice cannot be separated–that justice is, in fact, at the center of Scripture and the very heart of God. The prophets of this movement never tired of reminding their more politically conservative brethren that over 2,000 verses in Scripture reference the poor. Jim Wallis, John Alexander, Ron Sider, Tony Campolo, John Perkins, and Tom Skinner preached those texts in pulpits and college... Read more

Our fair city has decided to make it illegal to be a beggar in Durham’s chief shopping districts. Here’s an excerpt from the news story:  A unanimous City Council has approved a rules change that bars roadside solicitors from working on the medians of Durham’s major roadways. The solicitation ordinance passed during Monday’s meeting as part of the council’s consent agenda. Neither it nor any of the other items on the consent agenda sparked any debate…. The ordinance limits solicitors... Read more

Every week at Rutba House, we have a time of confession. Years ago, we decided it was an importance practice to have in place, whether we need it this week or not. In community, we’re going to mess up. We all need space to be reconciled. Often, when it’s time for confession, we sit in silence together and look at the ground. But I’ve noticed something over the years: whenever one person is honest enough to confess their failure, everyone... Read more

Where I grew up, it was the Friday night revival preacher who challenged you to give your whole life to Jesus. Anywhere people take the message of Jesus seriously, this challenge comes through: God’s Movement is breaking into the world. You either reshape your life or you resist it. Jesus doesn’t leave much room for middle-ground. But I think a lot of people like me who heard the call and walked the aisle have been disappointed to find that what... Read more

My son got to stay up late last night to watch the premiere of PBS’s new docu-drama The Abolitionists. This three hour film attempts to tell the incredible story of America’s first civil rights movement, when a strange coalition of ordinary people banded together across lines of class, race, gender and politics to work for the end of a terrible injustice at the heart of our nation’s economy. The telling will be criticized, no doubt, for what it omits. Black... Read more

I’m just back from our annual winter retreat with the community at Rutba House. Sometime early on, someone told us intentional communities have to retreat to survive. Thank God, we took them at their word. Just before we left, I opened the mail on Friday to find an old article from Clarence Jordan that a friend had copied and sent. It was called “Impractical Christianity,” and opened with these words: You can’t put Christianity into practice. You can’t make it... Read more

Sometime in the mid-60’s, when America’s black-led freedom movement was at the center of daily news, a white man asked Malcolm X why he did not accept and teach the nonviolence of Martin Luther King. Malcolm replied that he had not experienced a great deal of nonviolence in America. “If you believe in nonviolence,” he said, “why don’t you go teach some nonviolence to white people.” More and more, I’m convicted that Malcolm’s challenge is something of a call to... Read more

Over the holidays, I spent every spare moment I had reading Ernest Gaines. Somewhere (I’ve now forgotten where), Gaines says that he writes characters with character to develop his own character and to hopefully stretch the character of his readers. As a writer, I admire Gaines. As a human being, I read to be stretch by him. Here’s a great little video intro to Gaines and his powerful story of an execution in the South. A Lesson Before Dying is, strikingly,... Read more

A new calendar year also has lots of us thinking about who we want to be and become in 2013. Resolutions are a dime a dozen this time of year. But the revolution that opens us to the new order of God’s love is desperately needed now, as always. So, what better time for a few New Year’s revolutions? If “revolution” is about turning things around–our spirits and our world–then revolution is what we’re about at School for Conversion. Here... Read more

It’s Advent again, and I’ve been thinking about the world that is ending, a new birth of freedom, and what it means for us to wait with Mary for the salvation that is pure gift, even when it comes through our very bodies. Being in this season reminds me of what we learned as a community at Rutba House last year. I wrote about it in a note to friends: At the beginning of Advent this year, the Rutba House... Read more