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4 weeks ago | 
christiancentury.org | Liz Goodman |Mac Loftin |Amy Hall |Liz Charlotte Grant
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. I find Acts difficult to preach on. The stories in Luke’s “sequel” are long, and they’re about events that are hard to relate to. The Holy Spirit in Acts is so present, active, and effective that it’s tough to find analogues, at least in my life.
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Amy Hall |Liz Charlotte Grant |Phil Christman
Clockwise from upper left: bombermoon / iStock / Getty | Markus Spiske / Unsplash | NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / T. Temim | Mlenny / E+ / Getty The Buechner Narrative Writing Project honors the life and legacy of writer and theologian Frederick Buechner with the aim of nurturing the art of spiritual writing and reflection. Readers are invited to submit first-person narratives (under 1,000 words).
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Amy Hall |Liz Charlotte Grant |Phil Christman
I’ve always loved the idea of unity. That all may be one just as Jesus and the Father are one: this was my hope long before I even knew that Jesus ever prayed such a thing, as he does in this week’s gospel reading. A faint memory has me on a family trip to Disneyland, where I spent most of my time on the “It’s a Small World” ride.
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Philip Jenkins |Rachel Mann |Claire Giangrave
For the second conclave in a row, the College of Cardinals shocked the watching world with its choice for the next pope. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was a long-shot favorite, precisely because he was from the US—conventional wisdom being that a pope should not be drawn from a global superpower.
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Katherine A. Shaner |Mac Loftin |Isaac S. Villegas |Jesse Hake
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. Revelation can be a terrifying book of the Bible to encounter in the Easter season. We usually think about it as a doom and gloom kind of book. That is until a child, bleating like a sheep, reminds us what it is all about.
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Isaac S. Villegas |Jesse Hake |Cait West
The card holders on the long dining room table offered guidance to the women assembled around it: “Keep it Constitutional” and “Keep it Kind.” With those themes in mind, about 10 women, using beige or light blue fabric pieces and colorful markers, sat down to craft messages to their state representative or senator: “Checks and balances are vital to protect the power of Congress.” “We the People” “Rule of law for all” “Everyone deserves due process” Their 10×10 fabric pieces were later...
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Liz Charlotte Grant |Mac Loftin |Phil Christman |David Klein
The small African Hebrew Israelite community in Israel’s Negev Desert last month celebrated a major milestone in its struggle for recognition in the Jewish state, as more than 100 members seem to have avoided deportation. In a court battle spanning decades, Israeli judicial authorities ruled a majority of residents with undocumented or unclear status in the country will be placed on a pathway toward permanent residency and potential citizenship. “It’s been really rough.
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Adelle M. Banks |Mac Loftin |Cait West |Rachel Mann
A gathering for people interested in creation care issues took place April 25-26 in Topeka, Kansas, and was sponsored by the Episcopal Grasslands Network, the first eco-region created by legislation passed during the 2024 general convention. The event drew 134 registrants from 35 dioceses across the Episcopal Church, and about half of them attended in person. It also attracted 22 people who indicated they were not Episcopalians, including some who had no religious affiliation.
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Adelle M. Banks |Mac Loftin |Cait West |Rachel Mann
Prominent pastor and anti-poverty activist William Barber and two others were arrested while praying in the US Capitol Rotunda on Monday, an action he said would be part of a recurring series of demonstrations aimed at challenging the Republican-led budget bill.
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1 month ago | 
christiancentury.org | Adelle M. Banks |Mac Loftin |Cait West |Rachel Mann
Century illustration (Source images: Public domain and Met Museum, NY) Resurrection is supposed to mean a new world. Easter is supposed to mark a new beginning, a new creation—the old passing away, all things reborn. How do the first disciples respond to Christ’s triumph over death? They return to the humdrum of their jobs. They go fishing. At the end of John’s Gospel, we find the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. Peter says he’s going fishing, and the others reply, “We will go with you” (21:3).
