I grew up in a fundamentalist evangelical church and we talked a lot about discipleship. We were to go out and make disciples of all people. We were to be good disciples. And what did a good disciple look like? A good disciple told lots of people about their faith and tried to get them to convert. A good disciple studied their Bible a lot and prayed a lot. A good disciple was active in their church; serving, giving money, and attending every Sunday. A good disciple attended a small group of some kind, had people they were accountable to. A good disciple did their best to keep their bodies and minds pure.
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Reading poetry is one of the ways some of us nourish our faith, a way we set or reset our inner compass and stay focused on the big picture, on the spiritual journey. I know that is true for me. ‘Setting the Inner Compass’, is a column where I share poems that I find meaningful and hope others do as well. There are a lot of complaints/concerns about Facebook and other types of social media. As I write this, I am reminded that good things can come from-yes-Facebook. Facebook helped me get back in touch with my cousin Ginny. During childhood and adolescence Ginny and I enjoyed being together at family gatherings.
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I say this because on September 12, 2000, I delivered my stillborn daughter, Anna Michelle, who died at 22 weeks gestation, and this is exactly how I feel in response to the possibility of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which would ban women from making decisions about their own bodies, lives and medical care. Allow me to explain. Yes, I delivered my stillborn daughter. It was the only choice available to me, in “liberal” New York State at the time. I had gone to see a perinatologist the day before to discuss whether I wanted an amniocentesis. The ultraso
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We are living amid an existential and devastating climate crisis, demanding a moral and theological response across global institutions. The urgency of this crisis has only escalated since fossil fuel divestment was first introduced at the General Assembly in 2014. At that time and in the years since, there is one thing that Fossil Free PCUSA (FFPCUSA) and the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) have agreed upon: the gravity of the crisis requires an urgent and robust response.
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I was recently at a book club facilitated by Abolition Apostles, a Christian abolitionist ministry, where we discussed the book The Fall of the Prison: Biblical Perspectives on Prison Abolition by Lee Griffon. Micah Herskind, a Public Policy Associate at the Southern Center for Human Rights and a Christian abolitionist, led that day’s session and said something that has stayed with me since. He was speaking about retributive justice and its connection to the Christian faith and said, “Do we believe in prisons because we believe in Hell or do we believe in Hell because we believe in prisons.”
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Moderate and progressive Christians have always found it hard to take Donald Trump seriously as a false messiah, much less an actual one. In the
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Our country is in the midst of twin pandemics. One, the coronavirus pandemic, is dominating headlines. The other is a nationwide spike in gun violence.
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