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A subversive approach to a subversive parable [From Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43] On the surface, the story reads quite clearly—maybe a little too clearly. If you’re a regular church attendee…
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If Heaven is anything…
By Morf Morford
There’s a popular social media meme with a photo of a dour, even judgmental, crowd facing the viewer with a caption like “Spending eternity with people like this doesn’t have…
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A Second Chance Should Be Our First Choice with Prison Reform
Editor’s Note: This piece was first published by NewsOne on March 6, 2024. Republished here with permission. August 2024 will mark two years since my daughter, Michelle was released from…
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Hide and Seek Jesus
By S.M. Reed
The following blog post was originally posted on my blog, “The Jaded Evangelical”. “The Jaded Evangelical” is part devotional and part Christian apologetic, aiming to encourage those who have walked…
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For Boodah…
What does the enneagram have to say about a grown man who takes the time to put a tutu on a chihuahua? The stars, how about the stars? I wonder, what…
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Red Letter Christians sends $130,000+ to Gaza and the West Bank for Humanitarian Relief and Peacebuilding Efforts
Red Letter Christians, a Christian organization mobilizing a movement of believers who live out Jesus’ counter-cultural teachings, raised and disseminated over $130,000 for humanitarian relief in Gaza and to support…
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Are You Asking For Trouble?
This article was first published by Good Faith Media and is shared with permission. What has the North American church gotten itself into? Known more for infighting, schisms and splits,…
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Adaptation from “Enduring Friendship”
Adapted from Chapter 7, “Excuses” For years, Bible scholars have danced around the matter by saying slavery in Rome was far different from slavery in the first few centuries of…
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Gun Violence and Mental Health
Kansas City recently had yet another horrific mass shooting. On the same day there were two more mass shootings in Georgia, one in Atlanta and one in Claxton. According to…
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Tears of Gold: Portraits of Yazidi, Rohingya, and Nigerian Women, an Excerpt
Content taken from Tears of Gold by Hannah Rose Thomas, ©2024. Used by permission of Plough Books. Excerpt from the Foreword One of Hannah’s aims is to capture not only…
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An Unforgiving Christian, excerpt from “Forgiveness after Trauma”
The summer I turned nineteen, I felt a need to reckon with someone who had both harmed me deeply and done much good in my life. I decided to set…
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Commentary on Dorothy Day’s article, “Suicide or Sacrifice”
Dorothy Day’s article, “Suicide or Sacrifice”, was previously published by The Catholic Worker on November 1, 1965 and is reprinted with permission. On November 9, 1965 Roger LaPorte, a young…
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Two Names to Remember of the 30,000 Killed
One of the most powerful elements of the GazaCeasefirePilgrimage.com movement globally is hearing from the Palestinian Christian minority, like our new friend, Cami. You may remember, the week before Christmas,…
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How an MMA Fighter Became a Pacifist
By John Jensen
How an MMA fighter became less violent I learned a few things since I knew it all! After years of starting churches, leading alternative worship events, living in Christian community,…
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A Tribute to Constantine
The Emperor Constantine was born on February 27 in the year 272 AD. There are parts of the Church that honor him as a saint… so this feels like a…
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For Love of the World God Did Foolish Things
For love of the world God does foolish things is my theme for Lent this year. It came from the fact that Ash Wednesday coincided with Valentine’s Day this year,…
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Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage, Philadelphia
By RLC Editor
As Mary wept over Christ’s body, this Lenten season we are all mothers in Gaza weeping over the dead — over 30,000 killed since October 7, 2023 — senselessly from…
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Lent 2024 – Surprising Hope
Transcript of Jarrod McKenna’s Lent reflection on Isaiah 42:1-4 for Common Grace’s 2024 Lent Series Bible Verse – Isaiah 42:1-4 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one…
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God, Money, and Provision
By David Titus
Several years ago, the Bible story of John sending his disciples to ask if Jesus was the one…. caught my eye in a new way. Luke 7:22b – Jesus tells…
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“How Ableism Fuels Racism” an Excerpt
On September 12, 2001, I had an encounter with police that could have ended far worse than it did. The tension was high that day. Terrorists had attacked our country…
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Expanding Our Scope: Land as a Means for Repair through Equitable Development
By Cote Soerens
Excerpt by Coté Soerens from Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition (Eerdmans Publishing, January 2024), Mark Elsdon, editor. Reprinted with permission. Expanding Our Scope: Land as…
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Christianity and Human Rights: Back to Basics
In this piece I reflect on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and conflicting notions of Christian Theology that have recently threatened it. Human Rights are…
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In Between A Rock Is A Hard Place
I love the Psalms because the conversations shared are raw, uncensored, uplifting, and reassuring. They model the brutal honesty we can boldly and safely have in our relationship with a…
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A High Churchman Feels the Spirit Moving
There was to be no clapping in church. No clapping during music. No clapping when a child was baptized. No clapping when an award was presented or when a couple…
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Appraisal and Critique of Deconstruction Movement
Personal Appraisal Shared Values Base skepticism, critical questioning, cultural criticism, and having the courage to speak truth to power are all values that I share in common with contemporary deconstructionists.…
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Deconstructing Deconstruction: Why Is Deconstruction So Popular?
Why are so many people my age deconstructing Christian belief and practice? The Main Reasons for Faith Deconstruction Idealism and Perfectionism: Much of this comes from the church itself: spiritual…
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Deconstructing Deconstruction: What Is Deconstruction?
The animated Disney film Wreck-It Ralph draws an interesting contrast between two leading characters: Felix and Ralph. In the arcade game Fix-it Felix Jr., the passionate and quick-tempered “Wreck-It Ralph” demolishes buildings with his…
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‘The Bible belt is a death belt’ Why Christians must drop the death penalty
First published on January 29, 2024 by Premier Christianity: The UK’s Leading Christianity Magazine. Reprinted with permission. Alabama has executed convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas, the first…
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A Response for Palestine and Israel
By Bob Bowen
Knowing how to respond to the current crises in Gaza and Israel is a challenging task. As a Christian, my call is to overcome evil not with evil, but rather…
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We Theologized Hate
In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day – here is an excerpt on antisemitism entitled “We Theologized Hate” from Rethinking Life by Shane Claiborne. Reprinted with permission. We all have prejudices,…
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Dr. Jeff Hood in conversation with Shane Claiborne about Kenneth Smith’s Execution
Join us in conversation with Dr. Jeff Hood who was the spiritual advisor to death row inmate Kenneth Smith who was executed Thursday, January 25, 2024, with nitrogen gas by…
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Faith is a Verb
By S.M. Reed
Editor’s Note from the author, S.M. Reed: “The following blog post was originally posted on the blog, “The Jaded Evangelical”. “The Jaded Evangelical” is part devotional and part Christian apologetic,…
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prayer (xxvi) …for Munther Isaac and Gaza…
prayer (xxvi) …for Munther Isaac and Gaza… this year, the child will be found swaddled in rubble. soft infant flesh surrounded by rough slabs and crumbling. do not neglect the…
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135 Mennonites Arrested in Washington Singing for Gaza Ceasefire
135 Mennonites arrested in Washington Singing for Gaza Ceasefire 200 attend peace vigil while 135 arrested at Capitol On January 16, 2024, hundreds of Mennonites and interfaith allies from across…
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Roe v. Wade Anniversary
On January 22, 1973, the US Supreme Court decided in Roe v. Wade that a mother has the legal right to end her pregnancy up until the point at which…
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Another Way is Possible
By Mike Martin
Frank Jonas, a firearms dealer for Remington once said, “We certainly are in a hell of a business…A fellow has to wish for trouble so as to make a living,…
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For This Christian, Christmas Services This Year Left a Taste of Bitterness
As a Singaporean who has lived overseas for the past decade, coming home for Christmas is always a special time. I love seeing friends and family, basking in the celebratory…
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In Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
By RLC Editor
On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. In celebration of his contribution to the civil rights movement, the United States Congress made the third…
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Dialogue on the Middle East, Part 3
Excerpt from Red Letter Revolution by Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne. Reprinted with permission. TONY: I was on a radio show in New Zealand with a Christian Zionist who believes that…
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Dialogue on the Middle East, Part 2
Excerpt from Red Letter Revolution by Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne. Reprinted with permission. TONY: To call Israel and Palestine “the Holy Land” is a misnomer when what goes on there…
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Dialogue on the Middle East, Part 1
Excerpt from Red Letter Revolution by Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne. Reprinted with permission. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom … these are the beginnings…
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Church for ‘Nones’: Meet the Anti-dogma Spiritual Collectives Emerging Across the US
By Kathryn Post
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in Religion News Service on December 20, 2023. ATLANTA (RNS) — Twenty minutes outside downtown Atlanta, Vinings Lake sits along a humming thoroughfare connecting…
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Creative Ways of Following Jesus As We Race Into 2024 – a NEW YEAR of Accelerating Change
By Tom Sine
Here’s your invitation to join others who are creating innovative ways to be a difference and make a difference in the turbulent 2024 and beyond that reflect the ways of…
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Development Without Displacement
One of the most substantial things we do in Philly is turn abandoned houses into homes for families who need one. This year, we celebrated 25 years of life on…
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Subversive Peace for this Christmas Season
By Joel Jackson
It is to this group of social outcasts that God chooses to make an announcement of astonishingly good news—good news in which God declares a true peace that subverts the…
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The Real Meaning of Christmas — God Entered the Crap
God is with us in the struggle to survive, amid the throes of poverty, in the fight for freedom, in a world full of violence.
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Christ in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Lament
Editor’s note: Below is a replay of the earlier livestream of “Christ in the Rubble” led by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac with the transcript of the talk provided directly below.…
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The “Virgin Birth” and Global Justice: A New Perspective on a Core Christian Doctrine
By Will O’Brien
The “Virgin Birth” and Global Justice: A New Perspective on a Core Christian Doctrine, By Will O’Brien As we celebrate the holy season of Christmas, Christians recall the story of the…
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Blessed Are the Peacemakers
Bio: Carolyn S. Byars, MDiv, is a graduate of Howard University School of Divinity. She is the author of “Is American Christianity Antichrist?” and established Authentic Christian Life Ministry (https://authentic-christianity.life) to…
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Ditching the Myth: God’s Ancient Covenant, English Settlers, and the Ongoing Saga of Misapplied Promises in America
In late 2022, I came across a survey from the Public Religion Research Institute that has lingered in my thoughts ever since. The findings revealed that half of White evangelical…
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If I Knew Then What I Know Now
Former president Donald Trump, in a speech on Veterans Day described people who politically disagree with him as vermin. He said “we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and…
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Challenging War Profiteering with Jesus’ Prophetic Alternative
By Bob Ekblad
When Hamas militants massacred 1200 people inside Israel and carried 240 hostages into Gaza on October 7, they succeeded in provoking the State of Israel to unleash its wrath on…
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Do you know the real St. Nick?
The original “Old St. Nick” who inspired the tradition of Santa Claus… was a bishop of Myra in fourth-century Turkey (Christians around the world remember him on December 6). We…
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Stable Or Home and Why Does It Matter
It’s Advent and Christmas is just around the corner. Here in the U.S. the stores have been full of Christmas regalia for months and many of us are already sick…
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For Susanne
Last night I couldn’t sleep. I was clawing away at a fading memory of something so insignificant: my high school boyfriend’s youngest brother’s name. I finally got it at about…
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Praised by Faint Damnation
Praised by Faint Damnation Why American Evangelical Responses to October 7 are Dangerous Bruce N. Fisk In the aftermath of October 7, many American evangelicals are displaying unwavering support for…
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Finding Christ in the Unexpected: Loving Our Unhoused Neighbors
It was the end of a balmy San Diego Christmas day. My family had just left, and as my kids were winding down from all the excitement, I tackled the…
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Decolonizing Thanksgiving
By Cherise Bock
Editor’s Note: Previously published on The Watershed Discipleship blog on November 21, 2017. Reprinted with permission. As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the United States, it’s great…
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When Grief and Gratitude Embrace
I am in the midst of what I call my gratitude season. Ever since the year I celebrated Thanksgiving in Canada at the beginning of October, and American Thanksgiving at…
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Evangelical Appeal to Moral Case for Cease-fire
Editor’s Note: Video replay of the vigil is below. ** Transcript of Adam Taylor’s talk is below. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of…
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Lamenting the Cost of Violence
By Bryson Davis
My heart grieves deeply with… Palestinians and Israelis who are being devastated by violence — Jewish, Muslim, Christian…beloved, human. Haitians living in a gang-controlled capital, victims of murder, abduction, extortion,…
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Churches for Middle East Peace Nov. 20th White House Candlelight Prayer Vigil
By RLC Editor
WHITE HOUSE CANDLELIGHT PRAYER VIGIL CALLING FOR CEASEFIRE AND END TO VIOLENCE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS Candlelight Prayer Vigil Ceasefire Now! All Are Welcome Monday, November 20, 2023 6 p.m. – 7:30…
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Adaptation from “Rethinking the Police”
Adaptation from Rethinking the Police by Daniel Reinhardt (Adapted from the Introduction) I am a white male and was a police officer for twenty-four years in a racially diverse urban…
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Diversity Is God’s Idea – So Why Are Our Differences Taking Precedence Over God’s Word?
By Skot Welch
What do you think of when you hear the word language? I know what I think of: the funny story my friend Sharon shared with me about her introduction to…
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A Different Way
This is a poem that I wrote regarding the violence in Gaza. I feel helpless to do anything meaningful from so far away, yet am horrified by the footage I…
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The Realism of Retaliatory Love
By Bob Ekblad
As I follow the daily news from Gaza, I find myself needing to actively resist feelings of anger, helplessness, and despair. I feel pressured to not only understand but justify…
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Christian Leaders Discuss Peacemaking and a Call for Repentance
By RLC Editor
Christ at the Checkpoint Conference On Saturday, November 4, 2023, more than 500 Christians from around the world gathered online with Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters from Bethlehem, Nazareth, and…
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Reconnecting with my Faith
By Ariel Gold
I love Shabbat (the Jewish day of rest). I end my workweek in the early afternoon on Friday and bake the challah bread that I will bless. My daughter, who…
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From Information to Transformation: One Parish’s Story of How Unveiling a Painful Past Unlocked the Freedom to Act with Integrity Now and in the Future
Editor’s Note: This piece was first published by The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. This interview was conducted and written by The Rev. Dr. Craig D. Townsend, Historian in Residence…
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Secretary-General’s Climate Ambition Summit Previewed Growing Impatience of Inaction on Climate Change
By Ilka Vega
On September 17, I joined several of my sisters with United Women in Faith at the March to End Fossil Fuels. We hailed from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and all over New York, where our organization…
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“The Stones Cry Out”; an Excerpt
By Chris Mabey
INTRODUCTION It’s Easter week and I am re-reading well-thumbed events from the Gospels. Jesus passes the Mount of Olives as he approaches Jerusalem. The crowds are ecstatic, welcoming the Messiah…
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When Religion Gets it Right
I’m not going to lie. I was anxious as we pulled into the parking lot, driving past two large German shepherds who were incessantly barking and running back and forth…
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A Call for Repentance: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians
By RLC Editor
Sign On Petition: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians · Change.org “Learn to do right; seek justice; defend the oppressed” (Isa 1:17). We, at…
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Evangelicals Beware: Our Onesideism about Israel is Lethal
By Jer Swigart
One week ago, I evacuated from Israel. While there, I was outraged by the terror inflicted upon Israelis by Hamas’ insurgents. I witnessed, firsthand, the ripples of violence in the…
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Excerpt from “Nice Churchy Patriarchy: Reclaiming Women’s Humanity from Evangelicalism”
“When the Anonymous Disciple Is a Man:” An Excerpt from “Nice Churchy Patriarchy: Reclaiming Women’s Humanity from Evangelicalism” When I took my first preaching class in seminary, one of our…
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Excerpt from “The Deep Down Things”
Since our young years of learning how to sense the bloom in a wine and how to cross the line just enough to get a good laugh out of a…
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“Ritual Acts”, an Excerpt from “Meaning in the Moment”
Ritual Acts Our bodies are not passive in rituals; they are active, and that increases the transforming power of rituals. In my sabbatical-ending ritual, I used physical things in a…
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Caught Up In The Rapture
By Joel Simpson
Christians have always talked about Christ returning. The earliest creeds of the church talk about Christ’s return. It’s also mentioned in some New Testament letters from people like the Apostle…
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A Word from the Holy Land: Global Immersion
Please watch this conversation with my friend Jer Swigart from Global Immersion — LIVE from Jerusalem. He has been working for peace in the Holy Land for years, and he…
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Excerpt from “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future”, by Robert P. Jones
On May 4, 1863, the steamboat Northerner pushed up the Mississippi River from St. Louis, bound for Fort Snelling, a military outpost north of St. Paul, Minnesota. Just a few…
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Brother Francis
St. Francis of Assisi died on October 3, 1226… So, this week Christians around the world celebrate his life. I wrote this little tribute. Brother Francis by Shane Claiborne Despite…
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St. Francis, Pray for Us
Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published on the RLC blog on October 4, 2011. Today (October 4) Christians around the world celebrate the life of St. Francis of Assisi,…
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We’ve Missed the Point of the Gospel
By Tawnya Layne
I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. –Mahatma Gandhi I love the church. As a member of several different congregations…
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Christian Criminal Justice
By Matt Martens
As I’ve watched the national conversation concerning criminal justice play out among evangelicals in recent years, the focus has typically been either on the system’s inputs or on its output,…
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Everything is Political, oh my! Why Churches Should Build Better Capacity for Political Dialogue
A short anecdote from a podcast I was listening to recently keeps replaying in my mind: a man was walking with his friend and his friend said, “I’m hungry. I’d…
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Connecting With the Good News Generation
By Tom Sine
I have some bad news and some very good news for Red Letter Christians. Many of you likely already know the bad news, a growing number of those under 50,…
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An Excerpt from “Sacred Belonging”
By Kat Armas
We got the news late one Sunday morning in mid-July that my father-in-law had died unexpectedly. The phone rang loudly that day. Not only did the noise startle my spouse,…
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A Tribute to Rich Mullins
By RLC Editor
Twenty-six years ago today on September 19, 1997, this world lost a musical treasure when Rich Mullins was killed in a tragic accident en route to a benefit concert. He…
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Working on our Posture: Talking about God’s Mission with Shane Claiborne
By RLC Editor
In June 2023, Shane Claiborne paid a visit to Church Mission Society in Oxford UK for a lively conversation about mission with Naomi Steinberg. “I grew up with a version…
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Yesterday’s Jesus
For some Christians, what Jesus expects of his followers is negotiable though his words are written in red. Who these Christians expect Jesus to be is also hit or miss…
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The Fight Against the Execution of Anthony Sanchez in Oklahoma
By RLC Editor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 13, 2023 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Red Letter Christians unequivocally stands against all executions. We have, and will continue to, stand with advocates on the frontlines abolishing…
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The Rationale for Christian Nationalism
The ideology of Christian nationalism has no connection to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul was extremely upset that the Galatians perverted the gospel of Christ into something contrary…
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Praying with the Street Church of Radical Forgiveness
Praying with the Street Church of Radical Forgiveness by Adam Bucko from his book Let Your Heartbreak Be Your Guide Each year when we commemorate the anniversary of 9/11, I…
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48 Years Wrongfully Imprisoned, Glynn Simmons is now Free
By RLC Editor
Glynn Simmons spent 48 years wrongfully imprisoned, the first few under sentence of death. Glynn is now free, undergoing chemotherapy for liver cancer, and he needs our help. Here’s a…
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The Kingdom Is Yours
”The Kingdom Is Yours is a song for everyone who thought God left them when he was needed the most. The opposite is the most true. God shares his hope…
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Who Carries the Vision?
Editor’s Note: originally published on RLC blog on October 14, 2019. Around the moment when the hand of our historical clock was ticking from B.C. to A.D., Herod ruled Judea…
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Remembering We Can Fly
Video Produced by Art Hooker. Mixed and Mastered by Jay Kale. Co-produced by Lisa Sharon Harper and Andre Henry, performed by Andre and written by Lisa with Common Hymnal’s Phillip…
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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s visit with Shane Claiborne in Philly
Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of getting to know Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and his wife Caroline. As the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin…
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On global warming, yes, there is hope
By Thomas Reese
Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared in Religion News Service. The good news is there are ways to reduce and eliminate the growth in global warming; the bad news is I am not…
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Global warming is here and it is getting worse
By Thomas Reese
Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared in Religion News Service. We are like frogs in a pot of water being slowly cooked as the temperature rises. We don’t have the sense to get…