This is the fourth in a November series produced by BNG on what it means to be “blessed,” a word so flippantly used that it often loses meaning. For those of us who grew up evangelical, the term “blessing” comes…
Pandemic exposed injustices, but those lessons are fading away, research shows
The realities of racial, economic and gender injustice exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic began to fade from consciousness only a year later, according to researcher Eileen Campbell-Reed. During the first two years of the coronavirus outbreak, the Baptist theologian and…
What happens when you cannot hope?
As Advent approaches quickly, focused on waiting for the Christ Child, and as we light the candles of hope, joy, love and peace, I find myself unready. Exhausted. Feeling out of touch with the patterns of the church year, with…
Getting my vaccine was a humbling, sacred moment
I am thrice vaccinated now, and each time I receive a shot of the Pfizer vaccine, I feel like I am participating in something both humbling and sacred. I am a Christian who believes very deeply in what the Catholic…
Spilled Cheerios and a theology of care
During the mid-1990s, I was a sleep-deprived mother of a newborn and a toddler, a wife, a college professor, and a doctoral student with an unfinished dissertation. While zombie-walking through mundane chores, I heard the contents of the last box…
Flint congregation finds strength through Wellness Check Wednesdays
DeVontae Powell could see last summer that he and his Baptist congregation in Flint, Mich., would have to take mental health seriously if they were to get through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and two human-generated disasters afflicting the…
Why resisting gaslighting in the wake of sedition is self-care
The events in our nation this week have disturbed me. On Wednesday, like countless others, I was shaken by watching a seditious riot take over the Capitol. I use the word “sedition” because the actions of those involved meet the…
Beware: We can march and pray for good, yet still do harm
During the days between Sept. 11, 2001, and the beginning of the Gulf Wars, my 7-year-old son and I participated in peace demonstrations with friends. Our clever anti-war signs got honks and waves from most folks driving and walking by….
Self-care as political resistance – or how (not) to sacrifice humans to ‘save’ the economy
In the face of economic collapse, Americans are being invited to become sacrificially collectivist in their willingness to strap life, limb and vulnerable loved ones to the altar of our hyperventilating economy for the good of “everyone.”