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August 2026

August 26, 2026

When Solidarity Comes with a Personal Cost

Sometimes the most courageous act of solidarity is loving oneself enough to refuse to let...

August 25, 2026

Stumbling Blocks When Confronting Injustice

What happens when our desire to protect ourselves or those we love prevents us from...

September 2024

September 12, 2024

Refusing to Passively Endure Injustice, Part 3

Don’t passively endure suffering. Don’t give in when others try to persuade us to patiently...

September 11, 2024

Refusing to Passively Endure Injustice, Part 2

Passively enduring suffering doesn’t give life. Life is found in our active resistance and struggle...

September 10, 2024

Refusing to Passively Endure Injustice, Part 1

Whatever we make of the claim of messiah today, we must be intentional about holding...

April 2024

April 11, 2024

Resurrection as Injustice Undone, Part 3

Whatever we make of the resurrection stories today, resurrection speaks of stories not over yet. ...

April 10, 2024

Resurrection as Injustice Undone, Part 2

Resurrection speaks that hate, injustice, bigotry, power and privilege don’t have to have the last...

April 09, 2024

Resurrection as Injustice Undone, Part 1

They did not see their salvation as accomplished through the cross. They saw the resurrection...

March 2024

March 14, 2024

The Harmful Myth of Redemptive Death, Part 3

Love can conquer hate, and, in the end, justice, love and life will have the...

March 13, 2024

The Harmful Myth of Redemptive Death, Part 2

This prioritizes the oppressor’s or abuser’s need for redemption over and above the rights of...

March 12, 2024

The Harmful Myth of Redemptive Death, Part 1

Our reading has a history of justifying death or abuse for those in marginalized social...

February 2024

February 22, 2024

Bearing Crosses and the Myth of Redemptive Suffering, Part 3

This may seem to be a subtle interpretive difference, but it makes all the difference...

February 21, 2024

Bearing Crosses and the Myth of Redemptive Suffering, Part 2

Too often, the cross we are to counseled to “bear” is defined as an injustice...

February 20, 2024

Bearing Crosses and the Myth of Redemptive Suffering, Part 1

This is the myth of redemptive suffering: that our suffering can redeem our abusers and...

August 2023

August 31, 2023

What Taking Up a Cross Doesn’t Mean, Part 3

How we define bearing a cross makes a difference in how we respond to injustice...

August 31, 2023

Speaking Out, What Taking Up a Cross Doesn’t Mean Part 2

This is a far cry from counseling early followers to passively bear injustice, but a...

August 29, 2023

Participation, What Taking Up a Cross Doesn’t Mean Part 1

For better or worse, they interpreted the cross in terms of participation not substitution or...

January 2023

January 12, 2023

The Myth of Redemptive Suffering (Part 3 of 3)

If we aren’t careful we are telling those being harmed to be patient, that something...

January 11, 2023

The Myth of Redemptive Suffering (Part 2 of 3)

If we interpret Jesus’ death as redemptive suffering, then this becomes a life model for...

January 10, 2023

The Myth of Redemptive Suffering (Part 1 of 3)

It is helpful to understand some of the political context in which this passage was...

September 2021

September 09, 2021

Taking Up Our Crosses, Injustice, and Abuse (Part 3 of 3)

This story is, on the other hand, encouraging Jesus' followers to resist as he did...

September 08, 2021

Taking Up Our Crosses, Injustice, and Abuse (Part 2 of 3)

If you believe that acceptance of suffering gives life, then your resources for confronting perpetrators...

September 07, 2021

Taking Up Our Crosses, Injustice, and Abuse (Part 1 of 3)

Oppressors throughout history have used the concept of “taking up one’s cross” to prioritize themselves...

February 2021

February 26, 2021

Gaining the World, Losing One’s Humanity (Part 3)

Yet what’s at stake is larger than democracy. As Jesus called his followers, we’re called...

February 24, 2021

Gaining the World, Losing One’s Humanity (Part 2)

The concern is not partisan politics. The concern is humanity, the common good, the good...

February 23, 2021

Gaining the World, Losing One’s Humanity (Part 1)

That is the political or social context in which we must understand the above passage....

January 2020

January 22, 2020

Taking Up One’s Cross and the Myth of Redemptive Suffering

When those in power choose to threaten crosses for those standing up to systemic injustice,...

October 2019

October 02, 2019

Speaking Your Truth

In the name of taking actions that advance compassion, love and justice in our world,...

August 2019

August 26, 2019

A Prayer for Societal Justice and an End to Violence

We can make a choice to subvert our culture’s tendency to value property over people...

July 2019

July 29, 2019

Sheep Among Wolves and the Power of Community

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