This year, at least 49 Episcopal parishes across 12 states will offer ashes to passersby at train stations, bus stops and college campuses on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 22) as Danieley's "Ashes to Go" ...

"Although Portland is hardly the only place where evangelical Christianity is evolving (and making new friends in the process), there is little doubt that evangelicals here are on the front-end of a d ...

Where has all the sanity gone? I, for one, never expected in my wildest dreams to pine for the days of Ronald Reagan. But I'm there. Where has all the sanity gone? I, for ...

<p>Puppies. Sudan. Atlantis. Here's a little round up of links from around the Web you may have missed this week:</p> Puppies. Sudan. Atlantis. Here's a litt ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/03/04/a-report-from-afghanistan-the-human-toll-of-obamas-good-war/" target="_self"></a>In December, as the United States entered the ...

Retired Catholic Bishop Samuel Ru&iacute;z Garcia, known as the champion of the poor and indigenous in southern Mexico, died January 24 of complications from diabetes. He was 86.</p> ...

In a unanimous vote yesterday New York City's historic landmarks commission voted to withhold historic protection from the downtown building slated to become a Muslim community center (called Park5 ...

For the first time, a senior Khmer Rouge commander has been found guilty of <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2009/03/06/does-grace-abound-to-the-chief-of-torturers/">crimes against humanity in Cam ...

As an urban minister and a political professional, there have been two big news stories that I have followed with some level interest recently. As an urban minister and a politi ...

<em>Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may ...

My heart has been burdened the past several weeks by the hurt and pain in a place I call home: UC San Diego. Through my studies at UCSD, but also my community, I grew and was challenged. ...

It is still very much winter in Chicago. Sure, the calendar says March, but the piles of snow on the ground look more like mid-January. Everything is brown and crusty. It is still ...

<p>This time of year I find myself humming the Olympic anthem throughout the day. The Vancouver games run Feb. 12-28; it is time to start dreaming of mogul runs and bobsled victories. For some reason I h ...

Does this sound familiar? A poor, minority community experiences high levels of violence and drug dealing. A predominantly white police force sweeps in and arrests many offenders. ...

'Twas a week before Christmas, and all through my city<br /> Politicians were scrambl'n, it wasn't very pretty.<br /> Health care and climate were up in the air, ...

A popular argument amongst political conservatives goes like this: while they grant that Scripture requires concern and care for the poor and marginalized, that concern is one to be addressed by in ...

"Integration" and "diversity" do not express God's purpose for reconciliation deeply enough. What we need is a fresh paradigm that declares our <em>new</em> culture in Chri ...

It is Sunday night, and I am suddenly awake at the crack of too-close gunfire. It is Sunday night, and I am suddenly awake at the crack of too-close gunfire. I creep to the window ...

This morning as I was running on the treadmill, I was also watching CNN. A story came on about a shooting in Washington, D.C. The police chief was speaking, with the mayor of D.C looking on. ...

<p><a href="http://www.justicerevival.org"></a>Earlier this month, I was in Dallas for the official launch of Sojourners' next <a href="http://www.justicerevival.org/&q ...

Lisa Sharon Harper was interviewed recently by <a href="http://everydaydemocracy.podbean.com/2009/10/12/interview-with-lisa-sharon-harper-in-response-to-recent-beating-death-of-chicago-teen/">& ...

From the journal of Christopher Columbus:</p> From the journal of Christopher Columbus: In all the world, there is no better people nor better country. They love their ...

In 1958 the Teddy Bears released the song "To know him is to love him," which might as well have been called "To know, know, know, him is to love, love, love, him," since that's the wa ...

I've heard from many of you who liked <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2009/07/17/kids-need-all-the-positive-words-they-can-get/">last month's post</a>, or were at least relieved b ...

<p>Development is a word full of hope. It brings to mind water pumps and rice banks, bridges and education, smiling children and sky-scraping financial institutions. Yet there is a dark side to developme ...

Recently a bunch of people e-mailed me the same <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/opinion/16kristof.html"><em>New York Times</em> column</a>, which cited a variety of ...

<p>Just a half-mile or so south of our home is the Illinois Prairie Path. It's an old rail line that was converted to a walking and biking path in the early 1960s. An electric line actually, that on ...

<blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">"I do the work of justice not out of a disdain for the privileged but out of a love for Life." - <em>Womanist Theologian Dr. Kelly ...

<a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2009/07/06/the-next-evangelicalism-interview-with-soong-chan-rah">[continued from part 1]</a></p> [continued from part ...

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830833609?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=sojo_blog-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0830833609">&l ...

<p>I attended a majority white high school in the late '70s and since that time my life has been one cross-cultural bowl of spaghetti. It tastes good but is really messy, sometimes sauce all over yo ...

I was glad to see Daoud <a href="../2009/06/05/obama-reaches-out-to-palestinian-christians/">Kuttab's recent post on Obama and Arab Christians</a>. I wa ...

<em>It is undeniable that the Palestinian people - Muslim and Christians - have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they have endured the pain of dislocation. ...

In a <a title="http://www.nae.net/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=editor.page&amp;pageID=569&amp;idCategory=1" rel="#someid0" href="http://www.nae.net/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=editor.page& ...

Homecoming is on my mind in this day and this hour. Homecoming is on my mind in this day and this hour. My family and I will leave the twin cities, our Bethel University, our Sanc ...

Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem at the time when the Babylonians were laying siege to the city. Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem at the time when the Babylonians were laying siege to the c ...

<p><a href="/sites/default/files/images/gp_bike1.jpg"></a>Urban biking is not without peril. Many of my parishioners rely almost exclusively on human-powered transportation and do ...

Troost Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, has been dividing rich and poor, black and white, jobless and employed in this city since the days of Jim Crow when it was a legal line of segregation. ...

A standard definition of community development often goes something like this:</p> A standard definition of community development often goes something like this: Commu ...

Last month, in an issue of <em>Newsweek</em>, Jon Meacham describes what he perceives to be <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583">"The End of Christian America."< ...

One of the principles of the Christian community development movement is "relocation." While the principle has depth to it, more times then not it is lived out as people who choose to move their p ...

I really like Marlena, but that doesn't mean she is a good person. She is smart and easy to talk to, but only if you are talking about her stuff. I really like Marlena, but t ...

Ministry has its up and downs. Such is life. Ministry has its up and downs. Such is life. But one of the joys of planting and pastoring Quest Church is that it's one of t ...

Meet Stephen Bartlett, an urban gardener and educator in Louisville, Kentucky. Meet Stephen Bartlett, an urban gardener and educator in Louisville, Kentucky. His passion isn' ...

An <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-buying-black-09-mar09,0,5889126.story">article</a> in the <em>Chicago Tribune</em> caught my attention this week. ...

It's a new world we're living in. The troubles and hardships that were once easy to shove under our country's red, white, and blue rug now fly up in our faces on a daily basis. ...

Is it possible to create a new economy in the hood that would create jobs, lower energy costs, reduce the carbon footprint of an urban neighborhood, and allow neighbors to get to know one another a ...

<p>I took my 11-year-old daughter to the Cheetah Girls concert a week after Election Day. Stood in line for 20 minutes with other moms to buy her overpriced popcorn and soda. Forked over the rest of the ...

Twelve years ago our dear friend Julia took a badly neglected baby boy away from his crackhead mother and made him her own. Twelve years ago our dear friend Julia took a badly neg ...

[<a title="http://blog.sojo.net/tag/new-monastics-and-race" href="http://blog.sojo.net/tag/new-monastics-and-race">Read all posts in this conversation on New Monastics and race.</a ...