This is a guest blog from the staff at TechWarn, an organization dedicated to keeping people at risk from domestic violence safe on-line. October is Domestic Violence Month. As we’ve learned from the many #MeToo stories in circulation recently, when people are abused or threatened with violence, others too often either do not believe them, or dismiss the seriousness of the threat. If you know someone in danger from domestic violence, share this blog with them […]
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A Sanctuary City
People seeking out a sanctuary city is not a new phenomenon. What I am about to describe may sound like what’s currently unfolding for undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, and migrants today in the USA, but this blog is about the plight of a small group of English people in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The Separatists’ political and religious beliefs clashed with the dominate culture of their era. The clash escalated until government officials started […]
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What’s in a Name?
What’s in a name? Does it really matter all that much what name or label we use to identify groups of people? The bard William Shakespeare famously had Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, say, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” If by that he meant the name of the flower isn’t what matters; but rather the fragrance of it, well then, sure what difference does it make? But what if the alternate […]
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Avoiding Single-use Plastic for One Day
Christians around the world often give up something for Lent. This year, several folks suggested we give up plastic. Great idea! Photos of floating piles of plastic in our oceans, combined with stories of dead animals with stomachs filled with plastic debris, were huge motivators for this environmental-protection enthusiast. I decided to try a day without plastic. The first order of business – brush my teeth. My toothbrush is plastic, but I use it twice […]
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Words and Actions Matter
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (John 1:1) I was checking out of a hotel to head to a congregation as a guest preacher. That same weekend another angry, armed, hate-filled man attacked and killed people at worship at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile in Kentucky another man killed two people merely for being black. And another man sent pipe bombs to over […]
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