repentance
Eight homilies for practicing presence
Rabbi Sharon Brous believes we can build beloved community simply by showing up for one another.
Why I came back around to repentance
First I needed to meet a progressive, gracious God.
Elaine Enns and Ched Myers explore a theology of restorative solidarity
How can a people paralyzed by facing its history move forward?
Eddie Glaude revisits James Baldwin’s America
Begin Again’s call to repentance is, like Baldwin’s own language, substantially Christian.
How should the church respond to the colonialism that runs through its blood?
Robert Heaney believes the first step is penance.
Pragmatic guidance for the task of healing the world
Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill challenge churches to embrace nine practices of active faith.
How Karl Barth preached the gospel in a time of crisis
The headlines spoke of nationalism and war. Barth proclaimed a living God who calls for repentance.
Surprise: Essays by readers
We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “surprise.”
Repenting for our prisons
Imprisonment in this country is long on punishment and shamefully short on rehabilitation.
When white people are never racist
No white person ever wants to think of themselves as racist. And that is precisely part of the problem, no white person ever thinks of themselves as racist. Each white person is the innocent exception to the rule, even when confronted with the realities that our society is thoroughly racialized.
Blogging Toward Wednesday: How I learned to love mercy
In my younger, decidedly anti-Christian days, I did not like the way Christians asked God for mercy. It reinforced my idea that “the Christian God” was cruel and punishing. After all, if God was a loving and compassionate God, one would not have to beg for mercy. And if God was cruel and punishing but at the same time righteous and just, then human beings were clearly bad and unworthy.
This whole system of thought—shameful people and cruel God—made me want to stay far, far away from Christianity and Christian churches.
The shape of ashes
To say "earth to earth" is a good thing, we have to believe it's really going to happen.
Life exam
In a culture that finds repentance unintelligible, impractical, or unnecessary, we are called to witness to its intelligibility, beauty, and importance.
Advent's "why"
“I’m a Christian,” said my oldest daughter, seven-year-old Miriam.
“Really?” I replied. “So what makes you believe that you are a Christian?”
“Because I love God, God loves me, and I know Jesus came back to life after dying on the cross.”
The prodigal's brother
Salvation requires repentance. But of what do the righteous repent?