I have known a guy named Butch for years. He is like a lot of guys I know on the street: sometimes he is homeless, often he is addicted, and usually he is pleasant. Some years ago he was lucid and made an effort to fight his demons. Butch is an unlikely poet with a beautiful voice for singing. But, [...]Read More
Defending the Vulnerable
As two Southern California leaders living out CCD in our communities, we are intimately aware of the issues surrounding the broken immigration system. Robert is both an immigration attorney and professor of Chicana/o Studies and Asian American Studies at UCLA. Erica has worked in youth development [...]Read More
How will Christians demonstrate Christ’s radical love in 2017?
Earlier this fall I posted something opinionated about the presidential election on facebook. Truth is, I’m full of opinions and often share them publicly. A friend of mine challenged my stance and wouldn’t let up. He insulted me and others who participated in the discussion and refused engage in a [...]Read More
Obedience
"For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn" This simple line from the well-known Christmas hymn, "O Holy Night" depicts the disruption of light, seen from a distance, yet breaking through darkness that first Christmas thousands of years ago. As we come to our final week in Advent, we are [...]Read More
Patience and longsuffering
Patience and longsuffering. The essentiality of patience and longsuffering during this Advent season may be just the discovery Christians require as 2016 comes to an end. It has certainly come as a much needed discovery in my own life as the insidious beast, known as depression, debilitates [...]Read More
Hope: Reflections from Isaiah 11
Advent is all about hope. Hope is that particular kind of waiting with expectation that refuses to be discouraged in the face of delay and detour. Each year during Advent we celebrate and stir hope in our hearts because the Promised One has come. Word became flesh and dwelled among us. Hope was no [...]Read More
Thanksgiving and lament, gratitud y lamento
Thanksgiving and lament, gratitud y lamento. The both/and of kingdom theology charges us with the need to inhabit both those spaces. As Christians, we see this contrast and presence in so many places throughout Scripture. One could even argue that the themes of thanksgiving and lament are the most [...]Read More
A new vision for the city we need
Michael Mata, John Liotti and Mary Nelson recently represented CCDA at the Urban Shalom Project prelude to the UN Urban Habitat III gathering in Quito, Ecuador. The hope was to articulate the value added voice of Christians to the vision and work of just, sustainable cities at the UN Conference, a [...]Read More