On the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, a lot of people are talking about dreams today. Dreams for racial equality. Dreams for unity. Dreams for access to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Dreams for our children. Dreams for reconciliation. Dreams for a future with hope and freedom, love and peace. As…
Bible and Newspaper
current event discussion
Dear "Sign Guy"…
As I drive north on 380 from home, there is a field right by the interstate that has a homespun billboard. For five years, I have been disappointed by the trite, sometimes offensive, and always partisan slogans that grace this sign. Maybe part of my disappointment is there is no opportunity for relationship or conversation.…
Light Still Shines…
In the last two weeks, I have been talking with a lot of folks across Iowa. I spent some time with clergy in Des Moines and then in Hampton at Laity Day. I preached in DeWitt and organized folks in Mount Pleasant. I worked with folks in Tama. And I’ve made phone calls to at…
Shake It Out… #gc2012
I’m not even sure there are words to describe the last 24 hours. My roommate and re-acquainted friend from our youth days, Jessica Ireland, was hit by a truck in an intersection last night. She came out on the other side sore, scraped up, with deep scrapes on her foot that will take a while…
competing goods and womens’ bodies…
And I guess why this is so exasperating for me, personally, is that I can’t figure out what to say and where to stand. I see all sorts of different sides to these issues. There are a thousand shades of grey to understand in the conversations and multiple “goods” that unfortunately do not play well together. And so when I’m asked my opinion or what I think about it, it would probably take three hours just to lay out all of the pieces of the puzzle… and that doesn’t include any time spent trying to actually give an answer.
#endthedeathpenalty
katiez – for all that we have done… and left undone. for all that we have said… and left unsaid. Lord have mercy. #deathpenalty hughlh – “You can say they deserve to die, but the key moral question is ‘Do we deserve to kill?’” — Helen Prejean Mike Oles – Mourning for America tonight. This…
ding dong, the witch is dead…
I found out that Osama Bin Laden had been killed last night as I was crawling into bed. It has been a long week, I was tired, and my husband came in and announced the big news. My husband! Who normally isn’t all that concerned about world politics/situations. The first thing I thought of was…
rights of workers
Recently, we have wrestled in various states surrounding Iowa, and now in our own state with the rights of workers. I watched the situation unfolding in Wisconsin over the last month and was appalled at how it has all turned out. The United Methodist Church has had a long history of supporting labor reforms and…