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Sojourners Magazine: March 2013

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JESUS TELLS US that every teacher trained for the reign of God is like the master of a household who brings out of the storeroom what is new and what is old—words to inspire all the many, varied parts of the body of Christ. In our commentary section this month, we're glad to highlight an event organized by one of Sojourners' newest friends, Emerging Voices member Mark Charles. The event was a public reading of something long overdue: an apology passed by Congress for "the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States." That apology, included in a military appropriations bill passed in 2009, went largely unnoticed until Charles, a Navajo organizer and writer, arranged for its reading in Washington, D.C., in December. We look forward to hearing more long-overdue truths, and new approaches to old injustices, from our friends at the Emerging Voices project.

Truth and justice have been two features of New Testament scholar Reta Halteman Finger's writing from her early days at the biblical feminist magazine Daughters of Sarah and her first appearance in our pages in 1981. In her Bible study this month, she points out that 1 Peter's message to immigrants, too often allegorized out of its literal meaning, is deeply relevant today.

Meanwhile, author Ronald Osborn brings a different kind of old/new combination when he sheds fresh light on a much-loved evangelical author: Scottish Christian-convert Oswald Chambers (1874-1917). Though Chambers' devotional classic My Utmost for His Highest has been continuously in print in the U.S. since 1935, few today realize how modern he was. As Osborn reveals, "Chambers was—by his own confession—spiritual but not religious." Widely read in philosophy and psychology, Chambers even opined that someone who "reads only the Bible does not, as a rule, know it or human life." We hope all your reading this month, in the Bible, in Sojourners, and elsewhere, brings you hidden treasures.

Cover Story

Gumpanat / Shutterstock
Real interior silence, not just the absence of noise, is a foundational spiritual discipline. So why are we so resistant to enter into it?

Feature

This pledge, which draws on one used by Mahatma Gandhi's independence campaign in India, was used in the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1950s and '60s.
Today many people identify as "spiritual but not religious." Before it was trendy, Oswald Chambers, the man behind "My Utmost for His Highest," did too.
Interview with Jim Balmer, an antiwar activist whose commitment to nonviolence has made him an advocate for a consistent ethic of life
If we read 1 Peter's message to immigrants, exiles, and foreigners only as a metaphor, we risk missing the point.

Commentary

Abortion rates have dropped, and many people of faith are very interested in the reasons why.
Anti-labor laws undermine unions in the Midwest. Will faith communities rise to the challenge?
A young immigration activist goes behind bars—on purpose—to shed light on Obama's deportation policies.

Columns

"You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt."
It's more human to deny the evidence, attack the messengers, and try to delay any response.
Who speaks for God? Must be this guy...
You should expect some side effects.

Culture Watch

Four March 2013 culture recommendations from our editors
Leonard Cohen as irreverent master of prayer.
Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda
"Restless Fires: Young John Muir's Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf in 1867-68," Mercer University Press
"Chasing Gideon," The New Press
The best evidence against Murdoch is the existence of Fox News.
"Faith, Doubt, and Other Lines I've Crossed: Walking with the Unknown God," Jericho Books
"The Cry of Tamar: Violence Against Women and the Church's Response," Fortress Press
We shouldn't really expect the Oscars to grasp the point of history, though this year the films nominated for Best Picture are a fascinating snapshot of what ails—and could heal—us.

Web Extra

An extended interview with addiction-recovery worker Jim Balmer
Who controls the airwaves?
The Obama administration is not living up to its promises. Sign a petition to put an end to low-priority deportations.
Be a witness against the bomb—share these graphics!
Modern passages from Oswald Chambers' classic devotional reader "My Utmost for His Highest."