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June 3, 2021

Volume 138, Issue #11
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Features

Interviews

Centering the sacred work of spiritual direction for people of color

“Breath is how I bring myself back to God. My breath is my sacred word.”

Amy Frykholm interviews Therese Taylor-Stinson

Readers Write

Spark: Essays by readers

We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “spark.”
First Person

What is a beautiful church building for?

What my bad sermons made bland, our sanctuary made sweet.

by Zen Hess

First Person

Looking back at my ministry from hospice care

My feet hurt. To distract myself, I'm recalling my professional failures.

by Karl Travis

Homeless people get organized—and radical

In Tacoma, Minneapolis, and elsewhere, people without housing have taken over buildings.

by Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil

Books

Deconstructing the Republican Jesus

Biblical scholar Tony Keddie shows how the conservative movement enlisted the Bible to help its cause.

by Aaron Klink

Approaching eco-theology with hope

Two new books on praying, caring, and acting for the earth

by Clint Schnekloth

The busy church dilemma

Andrew Root cautions pastors that doing more is not the answer.

by Anthony B. Robinson

Departments

Faith Matters

My mother gave me the gift of words

When she gave me words, she gave me God.

by Debie Thomas

First Words

Limited incentives

Incentivizing good behavior can suffocate morality.

by Peter W. Marty

On Art

Daring to Go for Safety (left) and Flight, Fight or Freeze (right), by Monique Belitz

Poems....

art selection and comment by Lil Copan

How did abortion become legal in majority-Catholic Argentina?

In Latin America, faith and politics are being disentangled.

by Philip Jenkins

From the Editors

State anti-trans bills aren’t just culture wars skirmishes

They’re acts of harm against living, breathing people.

News

India’s diaspora boosts virus fight from afar

India’s large diaspora—long a boon to India’s economy—is tapping its wealth, political clout, and expertise to help its home country combat the catastrophic coronavirus surge that has left people to die outside overwhelmed hospitals....

by Sudhin Thanawala

US Catholic bishops may press Biden to stop taking communion

When the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops holds its next national meeting in mid-June, the bishops will be deciding whether to send a tougher-than-ever message to President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians: don’t receive commun...

by David Crary

For some pastors, the past year was a sign from God it was time to quit

Jeff Weddle, a wisecracking, self-deprecating, Bible-loving, self-described “failing pastor” from Wisconsin, was already thinking of leaving the ministry before COVID and the 2020 election....

by Bob Smietana

Independent film aims to dispel myths about Korean Americans

Happy Cleaners, an independent film set in the diverse Flushing neighborhood in Queens, New York, is about a Korean American family that owns a struggling dry-cleaning business....

by Jim Patterson

Indiana Episcopalians open state’s first LGBTQ youth shelter

Even before the ribbon was cut to officially open Trinity Haven—Indiana’s first residential facility for LGBTQ youth and young adults who are at risk of homelessness—on April 30, two people were living in the house....
People

Bob Abernethy, founder of popular PBS religion program, dies at 93

Veteran broadcast journalist Bob Abernethy, who founded the PBS program Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly, has died at the age of 93....

by Adelle M. Banks

People

Architect Daniel Libeskind to design new Tree of Life synagogue

Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life congre­gation has chosen internationally re­nowned architect Daniel Libeskind to design a new building for the site where 11 Jews were gunned down nearly three years ago in the deadliest antisemitic attack in Ameri­can hi...

by Yonat Shimron

People

Chanequa Walker-Barnes joins Columbia Theological Seminary

Womanist theologian Chanequa Walker-Barnes has joined the faculty of Columbia Theo­logical Seminary as professor of practical theology and pastoral counseling....

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

Lectionary

June 20, Ordinary 12B (1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49)

Saul would have provided better odds against Goliath. But God might not have favored him in the matchup.

by Matthew Johnson

June 13, Ordinary 11B (1 Samuel 15:34-16:13)

God is moving on, but Samuel can’t.

by Matthew Johnson

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