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We first published this reflection by Jim Wallis in 2002. It has since become our Christmas tradition, kind of our own Charlie Brown Christmas special, if you will. With the ongoing conflicts raging during each passing year, it remains tragically relevant, particularly this year as we think about Afghanistan.
The captain was the first to smell it. He told us that the ocean didn't used to smell this way. Then, we all smelled it.
Those of us living along the Gulf Coast are the sacrificial people and region for you and the rest of the Western world. We have been for many many generations. Sociologists would call us the subaltern; politicians would call us the 'don't counts'; economists call us disposable; geographers call us 'ineducable'; religious people call us hedonists or sinners; educators call us backwards.
Bethlehem, West Bank. Evangelicals have never been keen on political protests. Especially the sort that includes rifles and grenades -- in the hands of your opponents.
Today is Earth Day, an occasion for marking our responsibility to care for our world and the environment. It seems trite to have just one day to remind ourselves of the importance of this -- though the same could be (and often is) said about Father's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Christmas, etc.
I was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and grew up in San Diego, California, only a few hundred yards from the actual borderline. As a kid, there were always border patrols around but I never felt like my birthplace offered any threat. A few years ago, though, I noticed a massive escalation of security infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border. I couldn't figure out what had changed.