The consequences of this election — voter disenfranchisement and health risks — will fall disproportionally on Wisconsinites of color. Take Milwaukee County: Typically, the county has 180 polling locations, but on April 7, there were only five polling locations available.
Even amid a pandemic, I have heard a number of people continue their commitment to giving up foods that we societally understand as “bad.” In times of crisis and heightened levels of anxiety, the desire to better oneself — to feel control over certain aspects of one’s life — can increase. I witness people panic about the possibility of gaining weight while in quarantine or brag about their excessive exercise via social media. To be clear, there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to include more fruits and vegetables into one’s diet or wanting to devote time to exercise, but many restrictive choices around food are influenced by diet culture intersecting with one’s values. My eating disorder started in that exact fashion.
Dr. Larry Brilliant, an American epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox in the 1970s, and Rev. Jim Wallis discuss the current administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Brilliant outlines the moral, ethical, and scientific responses needed to respond effectively to the coronavirus.
This moment when you’re pausing to re-imagine Easter worship is ripe with possibility. How can you invite folks in the congregation to share and to lead? Yes, you can invite specific individuals to prerecord Scripture readings or prayers, but why not let them share their hearts? Ask a few folks to share, in 60 seconds or less, how they’ve see the body of Christ love and serve during this season.
As the plague continued to spread with every cough, they blamed a lunar eclipse and the malignant forces of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars for deadly vapors arriving on currents of air, passing into the blood stream. They hypothesized that this “corrupted air … penetrates to the heart” and “destroys the life force.” From where else could this curse have come? A product of “divine will” they decreed, and urged the people “to return humbly to God.”
When Raleigh Mennonite Church decided to fast from food waste for Lent, they didn’t know that 14 days in, the World Health Organization (WHO) would declare COVID-19 a pandemic. At a time when a core group of members planned on salvaging still-edible food from the dumpsters outside of grocery stores, hoards of Americans emptied the supermarket shelves of essentials like milk and bread and boxed wine.
As the nation tries to slow the advance of the coronavirus pandemic, most of the nation is engaged in responsible social distancing. In this episode of our Sunday Sermon in a Pandemic series, Sojourners Executive Director Adam Taylor and Rev. Jim Wallis share their thoughts on biblical teachings that can guide us through these times when the staggering devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic ravages our nation — and the world — after months of unconscionable inaction by President Trump.