From Dr. James Perkinson, Professor of Ethics and ​Systematic Theology at Ecumenical Theological Seminary, Detroit, MI:

I am very close to arguing — as a kind of hermeneutic strategy of trying to occasion conversion by way of “shock” — that I don’t think it is possible to live in the suburbs (or their commuter-friendly equivalent of gentrified and gated “enclosures” inside the city itself) and be Christian. At least, not to live “peacefully” in the suburbs and try to make sense of being a disciple only on its own terms. If one lives there and regularly raises issue with who is being excluded from there, that is a different story. If one advocates for low-income housing, or homeless shelters, or HIV-treatment centers, and tries to make apparent the way a “suburb” constitutes a kind of simultaneous realization of economic appropriation (of resources from elsewhere) and social exclusion (of people whose class position and racial affiliation make them “suspect”), then that is a serious form of witness. But simply to live in a suburb “neutrally” is merely to participate in — and perpetuate — a quintessential American fiction of innocence. The suburb is not, and has not ever been, a neutral entity. Neither is it innocent.

From Wen Stephenson’s What We’re Fighting For Now Is Each Other (2015):

What I have found, in the stories of those profiled here, and many others, is that the climate struggle, like so many struggles of the past, is essentially a spiritual struggle—it forces us to confront the deepest, most difficult questions about ourselves. The climate catastrophe is so fundamental that it strikes to the root of who we are: it’s a radical situ- ation, and it requires a radical response. But not radical, necessarily, in the conventional sense of ideology. Rather, it confronts us with a kind of radical necessity—a moral necessity. It requires us to wake up—to face the facts, to find out who we really are—and to act. In some cases, to lay everything on the line: our relationships, our reputations, our careers, our bodies, maybe even our lives.

By Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson, Commentary on Readings for Jan 10, Baptism of the Lord

[John] proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. : And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1.7-11)
Continue reading “Incarnating the Reign of God” →

Mexican artist Pedro Reyes converts 1,527 guns into 1,527 shovels to plant 1,527 trees: