A Theological Reflection Why can’t white folks in general – and white Christians in particular – be rid of the problems of
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An Opening Editorial Yes, you read the title right. I am racist, and so is the majority-white denomination I serve, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). I’m not particularly happy to admit this about myself or my Church. True, I have never
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A poem by Martín Espada This is the year that squatters evict landlords, gazing like admirals from the rail of the roofdeck or levitating hands in praise of steam in the shower; this is the year that shawled refugees deport judges who stare at the floor and their swollen feet
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Coming into my Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) year, I was no stranger to being the chocolate chip in the vanilla ice cream. All throughout my grade school years and college, I was the splash of color in a sea of white faces. So when I arrived at Stony Point, New
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“Make yourself at home.” This is a phrase we hear and utter often. What does the phrase mean? When a host says, “Make yourself at home,” does he or she literally mean for you to turn their home into yours? I have been a guest and a host many times
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In 2010, the Reformed Church in America General Synod adopted the Belhar Confession as one of its doctrinal standards. This was a monumental decision for the denomination, as the most recent standard before Belhar was adopted hundreds of years ago. The adoption of the Belhar Confession was one of the deciding
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I am a Mid-Westerner at heart, but I have lived in New York for the past 3-1/2 years. In my first few weeks in New York, I remember trying to navigate this urban jungle and its mass transit system. Every time I would meet a friend for lunch or dinner
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Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to
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Even before I began to follow Jesus, I viewed radical material simplicity as a mark of holiness. For many years, when I thought about what my ideal life would be, I imagined an existence almost entirely detached from our world’s economic system. I dreamed of shedding all my possessions, living
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“For 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe that as long as we have money we will have food. This is a mistake. If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have
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Playing Church Sometimes it feels like we’re just playing church the same way you play house as a kid. You put on a costume, set things up just right, and then go through the motions of what all-too-often feels like nothing more than a religious country club with eternal benefits.
More“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might and love your neighbor as yourself.” This is Jesus’ answer to the lawyer who asks, “How shall I inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds with the words of the Shemah. The Shemah is offered as
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