September 27, 2021
Verse of the day
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7
Voice of the day
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.
Prayer of the day
May the God who created a world of diversity and vibrancy, go with us as we embrace life in all its fullness.
Clare McBeath and Tim Presswood
Our Latest
Mitchell Atencio 9-21-2021
Immigrants and allies marched to the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 21 to urge lawmakers to ensure a pathway for citizenship. Photo: Sandy Ovalle / Sojourners.
Democrats had hoped to include a provision in President Joe Biden’s proposed $3.5 trillion budget that would have given citizenship to millions, including Dreamer immigrants, brought to the United States as children, who are protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. But on Sept. 19, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough — a nonpartisan, unelected staff member who advises lawmakers about what is acceptable under the chamber's rules and precedents — advised against adding a provision for citizenship in the budget reconciliation process.
Sandi Villarreal 9-22-2021
A conversation with Kate Bowler.
Kate Bowler. Original photo courtesy of Kate Bowler, illustration by Mitchell Atencio.
“Trying to make our lives meaningful all the time is so stupid,” says Kate Bowler. “We can’t make every minute into a moment. Sometimes you just have to pay bills and show up for your friend and listen to her talk again about whether she should dump her boyfriend — and she should — and be in a faculty meeting and be in traffic.”
Lauren W. Reliford 9-22-2021
Bishop Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, speaks to the media on Sept., 22, 2021, following a meeting between a coalition of Christian denominations and the White House to discuss investments in anti-poverty initiatives and programs that support children and families. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
We've long argued that budgets — including our federal budgets — are moral documents. As Christians, we see this as a principle deeply rooted in scripture, including Luke's gospel, which explains that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbors (Luke 10:27). In that same passage, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story about how our love for God and neighbor will be tested when our neighbors need us the most.
Lucas Kwong 9-23-2021
We can’t defeat racism by “being good” or “feeling guilty.”
Photo of John Calvin via rook76 / Shutterstock.com. Illustration by Mitchell Atencio.
As a post-evangelical, I have no interest in rehabilitating Calvin’s ideas about double predestination or his justification for the execution of Michael Servetus. Nonetheless, I’m unwilling to cast Calvin and his theological legacy in exclusively negative terms; I believe that confronting racial injustice today actually requires recuperating Calvin’s infamous doctrine of “total depravity,” or a spiritual condition staining humanity from birth. Doing so can help us better understand why both progressive and reactionary heirs to Calvinist thought fall short — and how we might work to transform our fallen world instead.