“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It […]
The divine union of love and power “is strong enough to take on systems and not just individuals. It gives love the audacity to seek justice swiftly and not merely incrementally [and] it allows power to be informed by love and disrupt all that stands in the way of freedom. Our power, your power, my power is […]
We have an obligation to ourselves and our communities to be bigger than the moment. This moment is breaking my heart. Watching the dehumanizing behavior of my government, even from afar, brings feelings of anger and despair. I know this is not something new, and that makes the heartbreak even deeper. Our country’s long history […]
The great abolitionist of the 19th century, the former slave Frederick Douglass, once wrote: “I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer, until I prayed with my legs.” A similar statement is attributed to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the great voices of faith of the 20th century. Rabbi Heschel marched […]
This week, the internet exploded with stories of families being separated at the border. Headlines were heartache: “Anguish at Southwest border…” “Ripping children from parents’ arms…” A policy of “zero tolerance” has created untenable, trauma-laden situations for families already at their breaking point. Between the stories we’ve heard and the images we’ve seen, our attention […]
If you had stayed tightfisted in the sky and watched us thrash with all the patience of a pipe smoker, I would pray like a golden bullet aimed at your heart. But the story says you cried and so heavy was the tear you fell with it to earth here like a baritone in a […]
Irenaeus [taught] that the glory of God is seen in a living human being. Let the light of that glory shine so brightly that everyone may come to recognize the inestimable value of all human life. Even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s […]
I hope my interfaith brothers and sisters will indulge us American Anglicans – better known as Episcopalians – for just a moment of pride. Not because one of our own preached at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; not because he is the head of our national church; but because of who […]
The question rings down through the ages. Religious communities have traditionally responded with a resounding “Yes!” Caring for our sisters and brothers is a key component of what it means to be a person of faith and conscience. Judaism: “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself: I am the SOVEREIGN GOD.” (Leviticus 19:18) […]
Humility seeks silence not in inactivity but in ordered activity, in the activity that is proper to our poverty and helplessness before God. Humility goes to pray and finds silence through words. Even when it speaks, humility listens. The words of humility are so simple, so gentle and so poor that they find their way […]
