-
You never know the day your life will change—or the person who will change it. For me, her name was Om Hassan. I was 23, an American soldier…
-
The Holy Thursday Revolution
This table is the hinge of history. The table is the point. Thursday is the Last Supper and the First Feast. The Holy Thursday Revolution.
-
A Merciful Awakening: A Short Sermon on Mark 10:46-52
For those of us who are being transformed by new-to-us revelations of long-present realities, this awakening journey is surely God’s mercy to us. It isn’t good for us to be…
-
Highlights from “MLK 55 Years Later: Can the Church Study War No More?” Event
We are up against some fierce principalities and powers – the triplet evils of racism, materialism, and militarism are as alive and well as they were 55 years ago. But…
-
Critical Race Theory Is Not Incompatible with Scripture
By Francois“…Perhaps, in this moment, God is calling us to think more critically about the role of the church and its relationship to the least of these.”
-
From Ferguson To Kiev: Dr. Bernice King to Join National Faith Leaders to Interrogate US Militarism at Home & Abroad
By RLC EditorReturning to the site and sound of MLK’s legendary ‘Beyond Vietnam’ speech to examine the enduring evils of racism, materialism, and militarism 55 years later NEW YORK – LIVE FREE…
-
The Weight and Wait of Tenebrae
By PJ RiggsLight seems so much brighter when we are emerging from the darkness. This is why I need that Tenebrae service, to sit and bear witness to the darkness, to recognize…
-
Holy Russia and the Consequences of Christian Nationalism
By David PiorekAs we watch the current tragedy unfold in Ukraine, our hearts and prayers must be with the suffering, and we must pray fervently that the Holy Spirit will change the…
-
During My First Year in Seminary
Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. That takes a lot of work – and the work is letting go in…
-
7 Things White Christians Can Do to Address White Supremacy at Church
I’m convinced that the most important thing white Christians can do is to simply start somewhere. And to start somewhere local.
-
Americans’ Outrage About Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Is More About Race Than the Immorality of War
By Jonny RashidWhat this showcases is that opposition here is more political than ethical. Our outrage against war is too often rooted in who is doing the invading and where they are…
-
An Open Letter to His Holiness Kirill from US Christian Leaders
By RLC Editor“In this moment, as the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, you have the holy opportunity to play an historic role in helping to bring a cessation of senseless violence…
-
Stations of the Cross Illustrated by Tennessee Men on Death Row
May these paintings open our hearts up to the profound depth of God’s love, and may they stir in us a passion for extending that love and grace to others.…
-
Free Melissa Lucio
To advance God’s kingdom on earth and pursue his vision of holistic shalom means we cannot avoid what’s happening on death row.
-
Radical Forgiveness and Ableism in the Church
By Liz DayeWhile the disability experience is not a monolith, by & large caregivers and disabled people are familiar with the feeling of being excluded from environments that seemingly welcome their presence…
-
The Best Defense…
What if we were to attack instead of retreat? What if, in place of despair or even a secure defense, we were to perpetrate an all-out offensive on the things…
-
A Moment of Reckoning for White Christians
This is a moment of reckoning. White Christians have but two options set before us: to walk the narrow road with Jesus in the path of repentance of our exploitation…
-
All Investment Has Impact—What Is Ours?
By Mark ElsdonThe source of both money and water affects the health of what it does in the world. Brackish or polluted water from upstream will kill everything downstream. The same is…
-
“Nothing New Under the Sun”: Opposing Racism Today
White supremacy comes with a body count, and when racism reigns, death runs rampant, too.
-
A Tribute to Steve Schapiro
Last month, we lost a giant in the movement for a better world – Steve Schapiro. Some of you may not know him because he was usually behind a camera,…
-
Nominating a Black Woman to the U.S. Supreme Court Will Advance Justice and Democracy
To be clear, this appointment does not obliterate the president of his broader responsibility to the Black community. He still needs to raise the minimum wage and address housing insecurity,…
-
Walk With Me
Rev Otis Moss III, founder of Unashamed Media Group, asked Common Hymnal to contribute music for “Otis’ Dream,” the Get Out The Vote film he wrote and produced for the 2020 election.…
-
An Excerpt From Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World – And How to Repair It All
Standing before the court, eighteen-year-old Fortune was born free and should have remained free according to Lord Baltimore’s 1681 legal turnabout. But of course the application of law is different…
-
This Book Will Be Banned
By Jemar TisbyThe manufactured hysteria about CRT and the 1619 Project puts any book that gives an honest accounting of racism at risk.
-
Love Breaks Forth
Let us celebrate Epiphany not made bitter, but better, by the challenge of so many who lost their way to love.
-
Finding Jesus in Rural America
We have to know God is here. Right here.
-
The Sacred Work of White Discomfort
The minimization or denial of the Holocaust is prohibited, but the minimization and denial of America’s treatment of Native Americans and African Americans is mandated.
-
The Heresy of Christian Nationalism
The Christian Nationalism that fueled January 6 is rooted in heresies.
-
Heavy Burdens and Hope: A Review
Until now, learning how to discuss these Bible bullets with any confidence seemed overwhelming. But Bridget Eileen Rivera has done all the heavy lifting.
-
Buddy Stouffer’s Execution Was the Last of 2021. Will It Be the Last to Be Proved an Error?
On Thursday (Dec. 9), Oklahoma executed Bigler “Buddy” Stouffer, a 79-year-old deeply committed Christian who has maintained his innocence since being convicted of murder in 1985. It was the last…
-
Buddy Stouffer’s Execution Was the Last of 2021. Will It Be the Last to Be Proved an Error?
On Thursday (Dec. 9), Oklahoma executed Bigler “Buddy” Stouffer, a 79-year-old deeply committed Christian who has maintained his innocence since being convicted of murder in 1985. It was the last…
-
Living Out Our Dual Citizenship
Might Paul’s example, together with relevant teachings and the life of Jesus, guide an exploration of our “dual citizenship” in the U.S. and in the Kingdom of God?
-
Reflections from a Recovering Christian Nationalist Leading to the Anniversary of January 6th
By Liz DayeI didn’t know it at the time, but I was being thoroughly discipled in Christian Nationalism: the idolatrous entangling of God and country for the sake of power.
-
Remembering the Insurrection
It was a terrible day for America and a terrible day for all of us who love Jesus.
-
Unlearning the Gospel of Whiteness: A Tribute to the Arch, Tata Desmond Tutu
The gospel is only good news to the poor if it is good news for all those made vulnerable.
-
In These 12 Days of Christmas, Thoughts on Mother God
Motherhood is an earthy, human, painful, female event, filled with soaring joy and searing pain. God came to us like this.
-
Finding Security as the World Is Upended: Reflections on Isaiah 26
By Bob EkbladThey are willing to try trusting God without knowing exactly what this means. I want to too.
-
Christmas in the Borderlands
By RLC EditorWith a week in the borderlands behind us, I am processing, and I am grieving.
-
A Ride for the Common Good
By Joel SimpsonThese are lies that feed our fear of strangers, of non-white bodies, and of people who are poor and from poor countries.
-
Mary’s Virginity Matters, but Not for the Reasons You Think
And so if we hold the virgin archetype up against Mary of Nazareth, we might be surprised by what we find. What if Mary’s virginity tells us not just about…
-
A Here-and-Not-Yet Gospel of Peace
By Anna KellyToo often, we have numbed the aches and groans of the world in a false peace that seeks to resolve and explain away our neighbor’s pain (or worse yet, to…
-
It’s What Didn’t Happen that Matters: On the Trial of the Murder of Ahmaud Arbery
And because of this, they trusted Dunikoski with a kind of trust that is often only extended to those closest to us—family—and called her Auntie to prove it.
-
Jesus is Waiting at Our Border
To reject the foreigners at our border is in many ways to reject the very face of Jesus.
-
The Kin-dom of God
When I first encountered a prayer using “kin-dom” instead of “kingdom,” I remember thinking that it was a sort of liberal watering down of the robust vision of Christ the…
-
The New War on Christmas
This week also marks the 9th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting (December 14), one of those all-too-familiar moments when our country said, “Never again”… and then let it happen…
-
Life as a Lesbian Christian: This Is What I See
Then one day, bone exhausted, something hit me. What if this thorn is actually a mustard seed?
-
Is Pro-Life Evangelicalism Killing Adoptees?
Adoptive parents can build platforms and careers off adoption, but adoptees who circumvent the system, usually offering their emotional labor at no cost, receive backlash.
-
Where Is Jesus in the Pandemic Protests?
By Mal GreenOne person’s expression of unlimited liberty is another person’s experience of unwelcome restriction.
-
Protecting What We Have
By Morf MorfordAnd no force in human history would dare confront such an ingrained and manifested belief system. Except one did.
-
Can Theology Be an Idol?
One of my favorite classes in seminary was Christology. It was the systematic biblical study of the person of Jesus Christ (that’s a mouthful!). By collecting and summarizing passages of…
-
The Time is Now for Justice for Caregivers
But the truth is that home care workers are struggling to make ends meet.
-
Julius Jones was spared by a governor who prayed. Let’s all now pray to end the death penalty.
The irony cannot be missed. Christians all over the world were praying that a Christian governor would not execute a fellow Christian brother who is almost assuredly innocent.
-
Deconstruction’s Critics Are Those With Much to Lose
I do not take deconstruction lightly, nor do I wish for churches to die. I want the church to flourish, and flourishing requires weeding out that which is harmful.
-
The Only Border Crisis is America’s Disgusting Treatment of Migrants.
By Doug PagittThe border is safe unless you are an immigrant. For immigrants and asylum seekers, it is dangerous and even deadly.
-
The Mark of Cain: On Who Deserves to Live
By Morf MorfordKilling in the name of God should be the ultimate oxymoron – the most extreme self-canceling, obvious-to-all contradiction.
-
The Ones Who Led the Way
By Amy C RoemerIt is through their testimony, their witness, that they passed down the faith we have today.
-
Single and Ready to…Rethink Church, Family, and What It Means to Belong
It can be less lonely simply not going to church than going and trying to be a part of something that largely was not designed for you.
-
Stewards of Our Home: A Litany for Our Interdependent Relationship with All of Creation
To be a true steward of a truly hospitable home means we must remember that sacredness.
-
To Anyone Else Feeling Stuck in Perplexity
I used to think I was losing my faith, but now I think I’ve actually been growing it deeper all along. If that statement is relatable, this article is for…
-
Cultivated Meat and the Prayer of Saint Francis
In the current moment, I don’t think there’s a more effective way to be an instrument of peace than pushing for federal funding for cultivated-meat research.
-
Transcending Boundaries as People of Faith
By Morf MorfordGod’s love, if we believe it, is unlimited and crosses every human-made boundary.
-
We Must See No Stranger
By Valarie KaurAnti-blackness transcends political party; it permeates our culture and becomes keenly visible in moments like this.
-
A Time to Grieve
Then I return to bearing witness, recognizing that there is indeed a time for grief, and we are in that time.
-
Drawing My Own Map in a Post-Evangelical World
For someone who thrives on order and stability, drawing my own map is more than navigating uncharted territory. It’s calling me to trust myself, trust God, and believe that the…
-
Money and Activism: Faith-Fueled Investing to Fight Climate Change
As someone who has been in advocacy work for a while, I’ve begun to wonder how much all this ‘righteous anger’ accomplishes if we don’t learn to examine our own…
-
Hope for Hunger: We can Answer the Moral Call to End Malnutrition
By Mark VisoI believe in our country’s ability to boldly lead an effective global response to food security and adequate nutrition and this initiative offers a blueprint for faith-based and U.S. government…
-
Bearing Witness as the First Step to Justice
Being a faithful witness means listening to survivors and believing them at their word without shaming, criticizing, or belittling.
-
Bishop Barber’s Remarks to the Vatican Conference on Ending Poverty
I am honored to be here at the Vatican on the feast of St. Francis to share with you on behalf of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for…
-
Dazzling and Cruel Transitions Out of Homelessness
There is an aspect of health and wholeness that cannot be defined by Maslow or medicine or psychology during transitions like this.
-
Facing Our Shattered State
By Bob EkbladWhat will it take for people to finally acknowledge our broken, shattered state?
-
Jesus Among the Insurrectionists
It is good and right to speak out against harmful distortions of the way of Jesus, but Jesus invites us to go further than that.
-
The Only Way is Through
I had no clue why something in me snapped. Then a couple of months ago, I picked up Brian McLaren’s book Faith After Doubt.
-
Seeking Wholeness: Moving Beyond the Abortion Debate
Maybe when we stop arguing over legality, we’ll be able to see the women and the children who are caught between the battle lines.
-
Why Are There So Many Toxic Pastors?
By Jon MathieuWhat’s wrong with us? Why do we keep empowering, following, and fawning over this type of leader?
-
Reaching Past the Obvious to Find Belonging
The challenge, then, is for us to go beyond the surface-level labels we wear, to go beyond visible markers of identity.
-
American Altar: Poetry, Gun Violence, and the Gods to Whom We Sacrifice
We Americans are much slower to see the idols of our own times and cultures.
-
Pastor of . . . Doubt?
The life of those who follow Jesus can be beautiful and amazing, and that beauty almost always includes doubt.
-
Why Do You Say You Love Jesus?
By Morf MorfordWhat I really want to know is why this “love” so often doesn’t look like love; why this “faith” doesn’t look like faith. Would they say, “It’s not about what…
-
In Opposition of the Line 3 Pipeline
Now, four years later, I want to follow up the heartfelt message of that video by expressing my public opposition to the Line 3 pipeline — and by asking you…
-
The Wrong Debate: On Alabama’s New Gas Chamber
By Chris BrownAs states grapple with how to resume killing, the only debate seems to be over the method.
-
Women of Faith Can Help Advance Climate Justice
Even though I am not a climate scientist, I recognize that the climate crisis is an existential threat impacting all of creation. As a woman and a person of faith,…
-
A Love Song for the Long-Haul: LA UMC Pastors on Hurricane Ida Aftermath
The journey ahead is complex and rightly so—filled with both triage and rehab efforts, insurance claims and bucket truck parades, adrenaline highs and compassion fatigue, questions about climate change and…
-
What I Learned About God by Praying for Osama bin Laden
Like every other college student and most Americans, I didn’t know the name Osama bin Laden. I also didn’t know God.
-
The Amnesia of ‘Never Forget’
Abroad, “never forget” hides a slow forgetting of the universal morality to which we once aspired as a country.
-
Faith Leaders Gather in Houston in Response to Gun Violence
By Kathryn PostThe Red Letter Christians’ gathering went on despite the cancellation of the NRA event.
-
Kayla Craig is Resourcing Parents for These Times
For those worried about their kids in these days of active shooter drills and other unsettling events, Kayla Craig fearlessly opens doors into frightening scenarios. How do we pray about…
-
The New American Revival: Christian Nationalism’s ‘Delta Variant’
Many will say it’s all about freedom, but it’s really about power.
-
The Morning After Ida Makes Landfall, a Prayer
By Patrice GopoSome days I wake in the morning disoriented, my mind mixing up my dreamscape with the reality of what transpires in life. In my dreamscape, my arms reach for a…
-
For Afghanistan, Hospitality is the Least We Should Do
By Bill MeffordThis knowledge should lead us to lament the terrible damage we have caused, and this should then shape how we move forward.
-
Healing Our Divides: Why This Matters
In large part, that’s why we become so persistently polarized, and that’s why our divisions can intensify to the point of mutual fear, hatred, and hellish violence.
-
How Should the Church Respond to the Tents That Line Our Urban Streets?
Until we begin to ascribe to the people we’re attempting to “serve” the same kinds of complexities, nuances, kindnesses, and curiosity that we ascribe and acknowledge in ourselves, we will…
-
With Red and Blue Fingerprints on Afghanistan Horror, a Call to Grieve
By Mark BauerAcknowledge the brokenness that could produce such gut-wrenching darkness. Internalize. And then get to work . . .
-
God of Liminal Space
God was in that spot. God was in the most mundane, powerless, painful place.
-
Roots of Justice
Much of the healing involves acknowledging that institutions, not just people, are racist.
-
How Sunday Schools Can Help Prevent Gun Violence
As we return to Sunday School or youth programming, we have an opportunity — whether it takes place in person or online — to inform and educate families as we…
-
‘Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue’: Positions of Power & Torah Justice
By Cory DriverWe must ensure that those in power do not succumb to human weakness, depriving those in their charge of the justice that God so passionately wants for all.
-
Stewarding Our Privilege for the Kingdom of God
Unbridled privilege destroys our witness and credibility in the world, prohibiting disciples from taking on the mindset of Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and seeking the peace and prosperity…
-
The Practice of Prayer vs. the Prayer of Practice
Even though I don’t do much planned-praying these days, the action of following Jesus does sometimes draw desperate prayers out of me.
-
Speak Love, Not War
Why is it that our modern church culture identifies faith with the language of pain, aggression, and domination more so than with nurturing peace and equality?
-
How Mormonism Can Save America
By Jana RiessMormonism teaches me that I don’t get to excommunicate folks from my world just because we disagree. And I am so, so glad of it.
