Yvette Schock

Mar 25, 2024 | christiancentury.org | Tricia Hersey |Brian Bantum |Gabe Colombo |Yvette Schock

When you hear the word manifesto, it’s unlikely that daydreaming, napping, and resting are the first things that come to your mind. But that association is what Rest Is Resistance aims to create. Poet-theologian Tricia Hersey weaves together personal narrative, lyrical theology, and political theory to leverage the political power of rest against “grind culture,” which becomes shorthand for systems and ideologies—in particular, White supremacy and capitalism—that jeopardize human flourishing.

Mar 25, 2024 | christiancentury.org | Brian Bantum |Gabe Colombo |Yvette Schock |Yolanda Pierce

“Free at last, free at last,thank God almighty I’m free at last!” These resounding words are most often remembered as the closing words of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, but they are taken from the spiritual “Free at Last”:Way down yonder in the graveyard walk, Me and my Jesus going to meet and talk. On my knees when the light passed by, Thought my soul would rise and fly. Some of these mornings, bright and fair, Goin’ to meet King Jesus in the air.

Mar 22, 2024 | christiancentury.org | Brian Bantum |Gabe Colombo |Yvette Schock |Yolanda Pierce

Hospitality as an exercise of Christian faith is not groundbreaking theology. The hospitality of early Christian communities was so great it earned them the ire of the Roman government. “These impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also,” wrote emperor Julian the Apostate.

Mar 22, 2024 | christiancentury.org | Brian Bantum |Gabe Colombo |Yolanda Pierce |Yvette Schock

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. A few weeks ago, on a gray, wet Saturday, three strangers knocked on our front door. This is a relatively rare occurrence these days, so I was curious to hear the reason for their visit.

Mar 1, 2024 | christiancentury.org | Brian Bantum |Gabe Colombo |Yvette Schock |Yolanda Pierce

Nowadays a brew pub or a website may be a more effective place to seek God than a church. “(Fresh Expressions) was born out of this realization that people are not coming to the church,” said Michael Adam Beck, who leads Fresh Expressions, a United Methodist program that explores alternatives to traditional worship, and also teaches the concept at United Theological Seminary. “In (Methodism founder John) Wesley’s day, people were not coming to the church.