A little boy who held a sign that read “I MATTER” stood among a throng of protestors who were streaming down the highway, chanting “No Justice! No Peace!” This scene has played again and again …

The American dream is a big house in the suburbs, a white picket fence, 2.5 kids and an SUV in the driveway. The American dream is to make it all by yourself and owe nothing …

In mid-March, as news of the pandemic began sweeping our country, our congregation closed the doors of our building and began meeting online. Each week, I recorded three short videos to encourage our relatively aged …

In the early 1920s, something powerful was happening in Harlem, New York. In a period later esteemed the Harlem Renaissance, Harlem became a cultural mecca for African American literature, music, art, and intellectual thought.[i]Disillusioned by the failed promises of economic reconstruction and continued …

by Susan Converse

The telephone rings, piercing the silence of the night.  You jump out of bed. Your heart is racing, and you pick up the phone.  The voice on the other end tells you that …

by Jimmy Arthur Atkins

The Holy Bible offers a treasure chest of case studies and examples of leadership—good and bad. While there are many secular definitions of leadership, I distinguish …

by Albrecht Classen

I would like to be courageous, but I am timid. I would like to be strong, but I am weak. I would like to be virtuous, but there are too many shortcomings and …

by Jerry Reisig

As the terms “organic” and “natural,” have become increasingly watered down and Buddhist meditation has become a corporate means to increase worker productivity, simplicity—the deepening of spiritual connection while letting go of …

by Albrecht Classen

We Westerners live in a world that is swamped with stuff. We almost drown in things that surround us, whether it is in the pantry, the fridge, the closet, the garage, or the …

by Mark S. Giacobbe

I never did find out why he didn’t show up. I had invited Ahmad, my first local friend, over for dinner at the guesthouse I called home that summer. It was hot, …

by Nelson Rivera

Let us begin with some questions. When we gather for worship, what do we think we are doing? In other words, what is our gathering for? Just thinking of the ways that diverse …

by Patty Christiena Willis

I remember sitting with a vegetarian friend at a Japanese restaurant.  When she ate a bit of shrimp that had been fried in batter, she spit it out, right there, and said, …