The beginning of a new year can be a time of reflection - for most. A fresh start or clean slate to make resolutions, to recommit to the work we are doing, the opportunity to begin again. But for many in our communities, the impact of incarceration looms regardless of new seasons. Men, women, and [...]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
Anticipation
Anticipation. It’s a positive re-frame for the simple fact that we wait for things. We wait in line to buy tea or a snack, we wait for a friend to return a phone call, we wait for our day to end, or our day to begin. We anticipate what’s coming next, and in doing so, we wait. In fact, sometimes [...]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