Spiritual Formation Archives

We Got Us: Jamal Bakr’s Journey From Incarceration to Community Transformation

(A Storytellers Collective Feature)

In neighborhoods across the United States, cycles of violence, incarceration, and disinvestment have shaped generations. Yet within these same communities, there are also stories of resilience — stories that challenge us to imagine what becomes possible when people refuse to be defined by their worst act, and when communities commit themselves to the long work of repair and flourishing.

Naked at Church?

By Derek Kaser

Can people get naked at your church? Can they bare everything and still be accepted without hesitation?

Fear not—I’m not suggesting we should make room for streakers at church. I’m talking about emotional nakedness.

When All You Can Do Is Laugh

By Drew Jackson
God made a covenant with Abram, promising him a land and innumerable descendants. The problem, however, was that he and his wife Sarai were old, well beyond the age of humanly being able to conceive.

Building a Family Around Dialogue

By Kristyn Komarnicki
A couple weeks ago I met up with six Oriented to Love (OTL) dialogue alums who had agreed to model loving dialogue for a group of Eastern University students. We’d been invited by the university’s director of student life, as part of their “Perspectives” series, which features presentations on divisive topics.

Teaching our Children to Love in a Divisive Culture

By Nicole T. Walters

The day before my daughter started kindergarten we drove as a family to a silent school, where nearly one thousand students would enter the next day. We walked around the playgrounds and the bus loading zones as we prayed for the students that would spend much of the next year of their lives there.

Light Shines in Darkness

By Churches for Middle East Peace

In him was life, and that life was the light of the people.
The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ~ John 1:4-5

Advent is a season of waiting.

Chasing a Star

By Sarah Are
God of yesterday, and God of the here and now.
My neighbors say they are hungry. And you say, Love your neighbor as yourself.
My neighbors say they are tired.

An Open Letter to My White, Conservative, Evangelical Mom

By Shannon Casey
Dear Mom,
Since I am a millennial, you probably weren’t surprised when I jumped on the #NeverTrump bandwagon. However, I know you also worried when that bandwagon carried me away from you and your beliefs.

Advent Revolutions

By Elrena Evans

“What’s your Christmas revolution?” My 10-year-old called from the back seat on the way to school.

“What?” I said.

“You know, revolutions,” he said. “Like New Year’s revolutions.

The Kingdom Family

By Tim Otto

Jesus’ own life and teachings underscore that marriage and family now take a back seat to the universal proclamation of God’s salvation and the formation of a new “first family”—a world-wide kingdom-building company, in which membership depends not at all on bloodlines, but on faith in the Messiah.

Repair, Reconciliation, Restoration

By Amy Knorr
Each year, my maple tree burns achingly bright in the backyard. A few weeks ago, that maple shone in the grey drizzle of the morning after. I needed that bright light in the midst of grey.

Turkey Talk: Christians and the Thanksgiving Meal

What kind of life do factory-farmed turkeys lead before they reach the Thanksgiving table?

After the Election

By Benjamin Capps
If you’re anything like me, this past election season felt like an assault on my sense of humanity. The constant fact checking, the chaotic social media culture, and the twenty-four hour news cycle barraged my senses and left me feeling disheveled, beaten down, and tired.

Racial Justice Institute at Eastern University

By Micky ScottBey Jones
On November 5, 2016, the Racial Justice Institute came to Eastern University. It was a full day of exploring the story of race in the United States, and in the lives of the participants.

1001 Ways to Die in America

By Jim Baton
As a peacemaker who intentionally brings Muslims and Christians together with the goal of authentic friendship, I’ve been criticized for not treating the threat of a Muslim terrorist sneaking into the US by posing as a refugee as real.

Don't Display Your Solidarity, Express It!

By Sung Yeon Choimorrow
This is not a piece about Standing Rock, the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), and the water protectors. This is a reflection to expand upon the narrative of what happened during the clergy action visit to Standing Rock on November 3rd, 2016.

My 3 AM Confession and Repentance

By Leslie Leyland Fields
We have a new president. We have much work ahead of us as a nation, as a Church. We will not move forward without looking behind. May these words of confession bring healing to us all.

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