By Erin Srivastava When I replay the horrific events that resulted in the murder of George Floyd, what looms largest for me are his last words. He cried out for his mama. I try to imagine George's mother raising him in the Third Ward, a place in Houston known for high crime, civil rights abuses, destitution, and economic segregation; a neighborhood where, in 1970, a cop positioned on the top of a church assassinated the 21-year-old black activist Carl Hampton, who was working to stop police brutality in the area. I think about her growing up in a shack without plumbing in North Carolina duri ..read more

Nelson Makamo By Kristyn Komarnicki I've been thinking about the idea, expressed in Proverbs 29:18, that without a vision the people perish. What is the vision that keeps you from perishing? Is it simply the hope of life returning to "normal," post-pandemic? Or is it something that, for now, exists only in your imagination? What is it that we, as the people of God, are envisioning? Ever since my colleague shared with me, a couple of months ago, Martín Espada's gorgeous poem "Imagine the Angels of Bread" (copied below), I've been asking myself these questions. What vision am I pursuing? What ..read more

Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin B. Curtice / Brazos Press, May 2020 By Kaitlin Curtice Indigenous bodies are bodies that remember. We carry stories inside us—not just stories of oppression, but stories of liberation, of renewal, of survival. The sacred thing about being human is that no matter how hard we try to get rid of them, our stories are our stories. They are carried inside us; they hover over us; they are the tools we use to explain ourselves to one another, to connect. We cannot take away the experiences of others, but we can learn from them. We can ta ..read more

pixabay.com By Bridget Eileen Rivera I've been thinking a lot about "positions" lately and what it even means to hold a position. When people ask about my "position" on "homosexuality," it's rarely in the interest of broadening their own perspective, understanding my own, or (God forbid) adjusting their beliefs. Instead, it's usually because they're looking for a category ("I'm side a" or "side b" or "affirming" or "celibate") that allows them to quickly box me away into one of two teams: the good guys or the bad guys. But what if I don't want to play for a team? What if I'm tired of the go ..read more

By Charles Lattimore Howard Is it possible that context—timing and location—influence how we receive the books that come across our eyes?  I opened Is Christianity The White Man's Religion: How The Bible is Good News for People of Color by Antipas L. Harris during the anxiety-filled days of social-distancing and in the wake of national attention-grabbing news stories about Ahmaud Aubrey and George Floyd.  This is an important and timely book. It is not perfect. What book is? Indeed, I have my own critiques around aspects of the text, but Harris has entered the broader intra-Christia ..read more

Three Pieces of Glass: Why We Feel Lonely in a World Mediated by Screens by Eric O. Jacobsen / Brazos Press, May 2020 By Eric Jacobsen In the winter of my junior year of college, I traveled to Scotland to study at the University of Aberdeen. I arrived on campus just after the beginning of the new year. Growing up in Seattle, I thought I was impervious to winter gloom, but I was not prepared for this. The sun went down at three in the afternoon, and the old stone buildings made everything feel damp and chilly. The whole town had a lackluster feel, due in no small part to the economic slump o ..read more

Compiled by Lauren Grubaugh and Andre Henry Our hope is that these practical and empowering resources/action ideas will give you the courage and insights you need to fight systemic racism (and other societal ills). Articles Unpresidented Action Guide Gene Sharp's 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action ANC Freedom Charter MLK's I Have A Dream Speech Pillars of Support Podcast Andre Henry's "Hope & Hard Pills": Toppling a Dictator with Srdja Popovic Books (We suggest you consider ordering titles from any of these black-owned independent bookstores.) Rules ..read more

A profession of the Christian faith through the experience of an immigrant. I believe in Almighty God, who guided the people in exile and in exodus, the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants. I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home, who fled his country with his parents when his life was in danger, and returning to his own country suffered the oppression of the tyrant Pontius Pilate, the servant of a foreign power, who then was persecuted, beaten, and finally tortured, accused and condemned to ..read more

Photo by TryJimmy / pixabay.com By Laura Markle Downton Inside most of the local jails, state and federal prisons, and detention centers that dot the landscape of the United States, on any given day, tens of thousands of incarcerated adults and youth are held in solitary confinement. For 22 to 24 hours a day, they are confined to a cell the size of a parking space for months, years, even decades. Meals are shoved through a small slit in a solid steel door. The cell may or may not have a window to the outside world. Those who have experienced this extreme isolation often describe it as being ..read more

By Gena Thomas Two years ago, my 5-year-old foster daughter, Julia, and her biological mother, Lupe, were reunited in their home country of Honduras after they were separated for eight months. It was two weeks after the Zero Tolerance policy — where our government forcibly separated parents and children at the border — had ended. We rejoiced that no more children would be separated from their parents, inflicting lifelong trauma on the families. And we rejoiced that Julia and Lupe would be face to face with each other again.  Upon arrival at the border, Julia had been separated from Lupe ..read more