By Karishma GottfriedMay 28, 2025“Queer... not as being about who you're having sex with (that can be a dimension of it), but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and has to invent it and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.”—bell hooks, 2014
By Zeb GreenMay 21, 2025“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”–Gospel of Matthew 25:35When I lived in Texas between 2018 and 2023, I frequently went into Mexico to help people who had been deported from the U.S. I
By Takiyah Nur AminMay 14, 2025“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends…”–The BeatlesSo many people I know want to do better, be different, quit smoking, what have you. I always wonder what kind of community they have to help them. For example, maybe you want to be a different mama than the
By Cara Stultz CostelloMay 7, 2025“For we are what God has made us, created... for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”—Ephesians 2:10 (NRSV) Edit Media Paragraph (112158)In stillness, the red-winged blackbird looks like any other common creature: coal-dark, small, shape
By Manish Mishra-MarzettiApril 30, 2025“Love is stronger than fear, but only if we participate in love.”—Amy Julia BeckerSpring Break. I’m with my family in Orlando and my child needs to go to urgent care. As an Asian-American in a gay marriage, with adopted kids who are Black, I had booked this Flo
By James ClarkeApril 23, 2025“We’re innocent, but the weight of the world is on our shoulders We’re innocent, but the battles left for us are far from over…”—The Offspring, from the song “Not the One” (YouTube)I first heard The Offspring’s Smash album when I was fourteen, and it blew me away. As a c
By Verdis RobinsonApril 16, 2025“Can't no grave hold my body downCan't no grave hold my body downWhen that first trumpet sound,I’m gonna get up out of the groundCan't no grave hold my body down...."When I was growing up as a Holiness Pentecostal preacher’s kid, I always looked forward to Easter time
By Elizabeth StevensApril 9, 2025"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change."—Bob KerreyFor many years, I served on a healthy congregations team in the Pacific Northwest District. Our task was to support congregations in engaging conflict in a
By Christine SlocumApril 2, 2025“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.”—Coretta Scott KingIt was one of those days. Waiting at a red light, I was mentally rehearsing every scheduled second of my evening when I saw a speeding car approac
By Jes Martinez-HuntMarch 26, 2025“You are who you are. No one can tell you who you are but you. Whoever you know yourself to be, you are right.” —Maybe BurkeI didn’t grow up with trans joy. I grew up with longing, quiet adjustments, and learning how to make myself acceptable. I spent years thinking
