Jacqui Lewis We are not liberated until… by Jacqui Lewis We are not liberated until our LGBTQI+ siblings are free to be who they are, marry who they love and keep their jobs! https://www.facebook.com/Rev.Jacqui.Lewis/photos/a.719247864759366/3662074577143332/?type=3&theater
John Pavlovitz That’s not what love does As you might imagine or have witnessed firsthand, I regularly encounter people who show up in my inbox or on my timeline or in my comment section because something I’ve…
Diana Butler Bass Where is God? “Where is God?” is one of the most consequential questions of our times. Some stubbornly maintain that a distant God sits on his heavenly throne watching all these things, acting…
brenda salter mcneil Lies left unchecked can become dangerous Living in isolation and insulation allows us to develop these prejudices based on post-truth rhetoric. Author, lecturer, and former educator Nathan Rutstein describes it like this: “Prejudice (is) an emotional…
Uncategorized The Social Nature of Gender For many people, the idea that gender is a changing social construct goes against what they believe about how men and women should look and act. But if we consider…
Justin Phillips A perfect picture of our tribalism One of my favorite rituals while teaching high school in Knoxville was the year-end chapel celebrating students’ college commitments. Graduating seniors stepped to the microphone in front of the assembled…
Brian McLaren Your three-member committee Your singular human brain functions like a three-member committee. Each of your three primary modules includes many distinct submodules that in turn contain even smaller submodules, and the interactions among…
Maya Angelou Morocco Although I was living in the twentieth century, I still held on to the nineteenth-century fanciful idea of Arabia. There were Caliphs and strong sexless eunuchs and harems where…
Ibram X. Kendi Denial is the heartbeat of racism It is hard for me to believe I finished high school in the year 2000 touting so many racist ideas. A racist culture had handed me the ammunition to shoot…
Susan K. Smith The “thingification” of Black people The Puritans relied upon the Calvinist theology to which they adhered, as well as the Bible, to justify their belief that God had created some human beings inferior to them.…
Ibram X. Kendi “Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” “We must put drug abuse on the run through stronger law enforcement,” Reagan said in the Rose Garden. It wasn’t drug abuse that was put on the run, of course,…
Brian McLaren All these observations piled up like a stack of firewood Before becoming a pastor, I thought more time in Bible study, more time in prayer, more time exposed to hymns and worship songs, more time in Christian fellowship meant my…
Daniel Bowman Jr. I didn’t know why it was so hard for me when it was so easy for others. I survived my childhood. I got through elementary school even though I did no homework, never studied for quizzes or tests, and almost never spoke with a teacher. These things…
Carlos Rodriguez I Reject the Version of Jesus Who… I reject the version of Jesus who would have told the rich young ruler, “you are blessed” instead of, “give everything to the poor and follow me.” Who would have…
Jim Wallis Jim Wallis a globally respected writer, teacher, preacher, and justice advocate who believes the gospel of Jesus must be transformed from its cultural and political captivities. He is a New York…
Otis Moss III With civil rights advocacy in his DNA, Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III built his ministry on community advancement and social justice activism. As Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of…
Adam Hamilton The latest thoughts from Adam: Adam Hamilton is senior pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, one of the fastest growing, most highly visible churches…
Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez, MEd, is a writer, early childhood development specialist, and seminary student at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Jennifer and her late husband, Anthony D. Rodriguez, created a…
Maya Angelou Maya Angelou born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books…
Brian McLaren Biblical Defense Today’s guest quote is by Brian McLaren, from "A New Kind of Christianity" But very few Christians today, in my experience anyway, have given a second thought to—much less repented of—this…