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CSA’s free weekly publication, a carefully curated collection of original articles at the intersection of spiritual formation and social action.
By Amy Knorr
On that first solo-driving day, as my daughter backed out of the garage and onto the road with a smile and a little wave, I swear I saw the gossamer shape of a 5-year-old, hands clenched on the handlebars of a tiny bike, pedaling shakily down the street with that familiar left-right wobble of a new rider.
By Lauren Grubaugh Thomas
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was a pastor and civil rights leader whose conviction and courage consistently led him to the frontlines of the struggle for justice. As someone who pushed his peers to greater risk-taking, Shuttlesworth’s leadership was crucial in elevating the cause for racial justice to the national conversation.
By Sarah String
Ella Josephine Baker was born in 1903, in Norfolk, Virginia. Growing up in the segregated South, she witnessed firsthand the injustices faced by African Americans. Her grandmother, who was formerly enslaved, instilled in her a strong sense of pride and resilience. The Great Depression also imprinted values like what it means to live in and through suffering.
By Heidi Weaver-Smith
Lent is about taking time to lose the things we can’t take with us as we remember what we cannot afford to lose. Lent frees us to remember our frailty and finitude, our reliance upon all the things that have taken God’s place as our home, and our need for God’s grace to find our way towards a future free from sorrow.
Howard Thurman, born on November 18, 1899, in Daytona Beach, Florida, stands as a towering figure in American history, leaving an indelible mark as an author, philosopher, theologian, and civil rights leader.
By Brian Zahnd
The cross is many things. One of the revelations of the cross is the divine repudiation of systems that seek to dominate a minority population through lethal force. When the powers that be justify their actions with empty euphemisms like “appropriate use of force,” the cross calls them to account.
I ask to hear his story and then try to truly listen—without interrupting. I have tried to discern his heart.
By Mars Adema
If Christ is our model as Christians, then why don’t our lives look like his?
I was spiritually formed in my Christian faith within the lap of luxury, but I was unaware of it at the time.
By Andre Henry
Originally published January 21, 2019
Today, Americans celebrate the legacy and work of one of the most prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Yes, Dr.
By Liz Cooledge Jenkins
When we become aware that there is tension between our political views and what love requires of us, we can change our political views. We “love our neighbors well” not only by caring for them directly but also by caring about the policies that impact their lives, often in devastating ways. Love and our politics do not have to exist in tension. We can let love shape our politics.
By Irwyn Ince
Growing up in a city like New York, you get used to a hustle. You might even end up doing a little hustling yourself. The hustler offers someone something of value, or something another person may desire.
By J. Mark Bowers
When the newborn King arrived on the margins, economically and physically on the wrong side of power, His agenda was larger than just rescuing me or you. He had the entire cosmos in mind. While Jesus came to save us from our personal sins, His work on the cross put all things right again, including the systems of the world (Colossians 1:19-20).
By Elrena Evans
God, we are weary. We have traveled for many miles, and we still aren’t home.
By Michael Stalcup
We were almost used
to living in the dark,
to being powerless,
that day you quietly
pulled the lid off the sky
of a world below
By Kelley Nikondeha
The Spirit is moving farther and farther from the centers of power and propriety toward those most victimized by the empire.
And then God reaches deep into the social fray, stretching all the way to a band of shepherds. The whole of society is embraced by Emmanuel—God with all of us, right down to the lowliest shepherd!
By David Michaux
The Magnificat is not a prayer from the quiet and timid girl we see in Renaissance paintings. The Magnificat is a prayer for social and political upheaval. The Magnificat has revolutionary teeth. The Magnificat is about the powerful deeds of the Mighty God.
By Scott Bessenecker
The empires of this world exploit the vulnerable. Its economics reward those who plunder the environment. Money gravitates to the center while some people are pushed to the margins. In contrast, the economics in the land of God are centrifugal, pushing resources out to the edges. The social forces are magnetic, drawing the excluded into the center.