A few nights ago, I had a dream that terrified me. Actually, it woke me up feeling physically ill in my waking moments. I was on the side of a mountain that had a series of large boulders lining it….
Charity versus justice
It’s an old saying but true: If you have to keep rescuing people out of a raging river, eventually you ought to walk upstream to see who’s throwing those people in the river. This is the difference between charity and…
Private property or the public good? Thoughts on wealth, taxes and justice
Growing up in the 1970s, there were some things I was sure of. One such truth was that America is a Christian nation — founded by Christians, based on Christian principles, uniquely favored by God. I suspect many Christians who…
How a Muslim beggar taught me about dignity
Perhaps I had grown too accustomed to seeing people dig through the garbage containers at the edge of the street in my residential neighborhood in Semarang, Indonesia. Then, one day I prepared a sermon for the small English-language congregation I…
‘God don’t make junk’: Transformed vision prompted transformed community in S.C. neighborhood
Metanoia, a grassroots, asset-based community development ministry founded in 2002, is changing lives and perceptions in a North Charleston, S.C., neighborhood.
Photo Gallery: Metanoia in photos
All photos taken in this photo gallery of Metanoia are by Stephen B. Morton. In this series, we learn what happens when a community rejects traditional concepts of charity but instead taps the existing human and physical resources of a community…
There is nothing too good for the poor
A wealthy woman once gave Dorothy Day a diamond ring as a gift to help support the work of the Catholic Worker. According to some other workers, she slipped it into her pocket for a little while. A short time…
7 reasons not to participate in Operation Christmas Child this year
Each and every year around this time, thousands of churches around the country participate in an organization called Operation Christmas Child. If you are unfamiliar with Operation Christmas Child, the gist is this: churches distribute pre-printed shoebox-sized cardboard boxes, which…
De-toxifying charity
Many years ago, I was prompted to rethink my own presuppositions about stewardship after reading Ron Sider’s probing book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity. More recently many of us have been thinking more…