In 2007, Paul Hawken published a book called Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. The book documents grassroots activism around the world, ranging from NGOs to billionaire philanthropists to local, individual efforts. The movement is enormous, but so widely dispersed that it…
Author: jnickell5
Today’s Samaritans
Most of us think of Samaritans favorably. We know that word as part of the phrase “good Samaritan, ” as in laws that offer legal protection to people who have rendered aid to someone in trouble. The idea, of course, is from the parable in Luke 10:30-37, in which a man is robbed, beaten, and…
Sex and the Bible
Issues of religion and sexuality are as potent as ever. The overturning of abortion rights, church division over LGBTQ rights, and the morality of sexual relations outside of marriage turn on questions of right and wrong, which for Christians are grounded in scripture. Yet no area requires that we contextualize biblical guidance more than sexuality…
Broken
Like most Americans, I was heartbroken over the mass shooting in Texas that killed innocent children at school. I was heartbroken to learn that the shooter was just 18 years old, the same age as the shooter who killed 10 black people at a grocery store in Buffalo just ten days earlier. But what breaks…
Convergence
This week began with Easter and ends with Earth Day (April 22). The resurrection is the foundational event for Christians, so Easter is joyously celebrated in all Christian traditions. Care of the earth, on the other hand, remains a fringe concern within the church. Fewer than one-third of white Evangelical Christians view climate change as…
Complicity
Environmentalist Bill McKibben wrote about it in The Guardian. Thomas Friedman made it the topic of his column in The New York Times.The Christian Century addressed it in a recent editorial. Our dependence on oil is fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine, providing even more reason to transition to renewable energy. Throughout the west, people have…
Living Among Ashes
There’s an ancient Jewish tale about a rabbi who carried two slips of paper in his pockets. The slip in one pocket read, “You are nothing but dust and ashes,” and the slip in the other read, “The world was created for you.” We humans are creatures of the dust who are enlivened by the…
When Great Trees Fall
When great trees fall,rocks on distant hills shudder,lions hunker downin tall grasses,and even elephantslumber after safety. When great trees fallin forests,small things recoil into silence,their senseseroded beyond fear. When great souls die,the air around us becomeslight, rare, sterile.We breathe, briefly.Our eyes, briefly,see witha hurtful clarity. Maya Angelou’s poem is a fitting tribute to the great…
A National Epiphany
January 6 is the one-year anniversary of an armed assault on the U.S Capitol. It is also Epiphany in the Christian calendar. Meaning “revelation” or “manifestation,” Epiphany celebrates the revelation of Jesus to the Gentiles, symbolized by the magi who came from the East to honor him. January 6, 2021, was a revelation as well,…
New Neighbors
The UN Climate Summit known as COP26, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland, this month, was notable for the older, white men who dominated the official sessions and the much more diverse and younger crowds demonstrating outside. Less visible were representatives of religious groups from around the world, although many were there and some had…