By Keith Anderson. Was it Jesus who said, “No greater love has anyone than this, to sit through a school board meeting”? No, actually that was me. I whispered it to my wife as we sat together for several hours at a recent meeting of our local school board. On the agenda that evening was the adoption of a proposed district-wide gender expansive policy to protect transgendered and gender non-conforming students and bring the district in line with the U.S.... Read more
By Rev. Dr. James Forbes. God’s call of Elijah was an invitation to a beautiful divine/human partnership of faithfulness and faithful service. It was based on a three-point contract: HO-GO-LO. “HO” indicates that God had to get his attention. It was important for Elijah to know who was calling him, to whom he was accountable, under whose guidance he was to serve and upon whom he could depend for direction, protection, and provisions. “GO” speaks of the assignment God intended... Read more
By Mihee Kim-Kort. On Memorial Day we honor those men and women who have died while in military service for their country. The day also gives us the opportunity to recognize living veterans who continue to struggle with their experience overseas and the hardship of reintegrating into “normal” life. Vets carry “deaths” in their hearts and minds. We can find ways to walk with them so they can grow new lives and find peace. One day, a normal day, after... Read more
By Walter Brueggemann. This text is one of the loveliest and most important biblical texts that respond to the question: “What is the world like? How does it work?” The text is framed as a speech by “wisdom” who is presented as an active agent who has a voice for self-announcement. It is the work of the poet to bring to availability that which remains hidden but is deeply operative in the working of creation. Wisdom identifies three relationships that... Read more
By Shively T.J. Smith. Just a couple of weeks ago, many people were tossed unexpectedly into a spiral of shock and loss. People all over the world found themselves grieving at the same moment as news broke that Prince Rogers Nelson was dead on April 21, 2016. This moment of loss was filled with unified diversity. People of different ethnicities, nations, genders, ages, and religions felt similar feelings of bereavement. For some, who may never even have attended a Prince concert, they... Read more
By Matthew L. Skinner. Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. It’s familiar to many. The story features a culture that treats people like commodities, valuing them only insofar as they produce wealth. It describes a society that closes ranks against outsiders, concluding that foreign people and ideas are detrimental to established values and incompatible with true patriotism. It tells about a system that regards punishment and incarceration as easy solutions, preferring the blunt weapons of shame and quarantine... Read more
By Raj Nadella. A recent study published by the Pew Research Center offers some interesting data about economic inequality in the United States. In 1982, the top 1 percent families took in 10.8 percent percent of all the pretax income. The bottom 90 percent got 64.7 percent. By 2012, it was 22.5 percent for the top 1 percent and 49.6 percent for the bottom 90 percent. In a more disturbing trend the top 1 percent owned 35 percent of all the personal... Read more
By Rev. Jes Kast-Keat. This week people around the country will participate in Earth Day activities. Kids will come home with a tree sapling to plant in their yards. City classrooms will head out on their sidewalk and pick up trash. People will compost and recycle the waste that has gathered. Some of us may gather at rallies celebrating our responsibility in earth care. Others of us will head to lectures where we will hear that “Observations throughout the world... Read more
By Rev. Adriene Thorne. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her. Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a desolate woman. When King David... Read more
By Eric D. Barreto. The presidential race has invited all kinds of rash predictions. “If that candidate gets elected, it will be a disaster.” “If that candidate is president, I will move to Canada.” In each case, the prediction of a future disaster is supposed to convince us to act differently in the present. “The election of a certain candidate would be so awful, that we must stop it. Or I’ll move to Canada.” Key parts of our political discourse... Read more
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