May Day breakfast. Euchre and Pizza. Friday Food & Friends. Are we busy or lonely (or both)? I contemplate community often. At home, at church, at bars, at fellowship functions and sporting events. What are people looking for? What do they need? The feeling of isolation is epidemic in our society. Not just our country. Surrounded by people,
Read MoreOur Second Annual Streetfest Against Violence displayed unity across the community to join in God’s work of repairing the world (WAND, FOX, and WCIA). This sermon excerpt from one of New Covenant’s first pastors, Martin Shupack, on 2.10.2019 at New Hope Fellowship Church, Alexandria, Va., articulates why “social action” — rightly understood — is both integral to the
Read More“But I’m not an event planner!” My grace is sufficient for you. Each objection met the same answer. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 Despite the wild success of last year’s Good Friday Streetfest, I wasn’t convinced it should be an annual event. I would have
Read Morethe question The forecast promisedrain in the wildernessoutside Stockton, Illinois. So I brought boots,wool hat, mittens, down coat.April is fickle. I came to Sabbath Place,a silent cabin with loud refrigerator hum,to work On a sermon for Easter. I felt obligatedto hike trails before the deluge Of words onto screen. The sun shone asheavy thoughts gatheredgray overhead. Surrounded by trees,bright
Read MoreThis note from our sister Paige Weston makes me want to slow down and read Wendell Berry’s poem again and again. I hope it blesses you as well. -Renée I think often about the instruction in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
Read MoreI’ve been searching for signs of spring. Slim purple crocus, not yet open. Faint and fuzzy buds on the trees, promising foliage for summer shade. I am looking for evidence of God. Not just in nature, but in the people around me. As we pray together, I hold their hands and ask for God’s presence
Read MoreMississippi is on my mind. It’s spring break, the season of Habitat trips to the Delta, where the seeds of Spring Initiative after-school-and-so-much-more-program germinated. Teenagers who built houses in our nation’s poorest counties are now hard-working adults in their thirties. They’ve devoted their lives to empowering young people in the Mississippi Delta to beat the odds, access the
Read MoreEverybody prays. Is this true? I wonder. Hypocrites pray. Gentiles pray. Observant Jews going about their ordinary jobs before they were summoned to follow Jesus. They obviously prayed. Children pray and teachers pray. People of all religions, and no religion, pray. “Our Father who is in heaven,” Matthew 6:9(CEB) Jesus has just instructed his followers to
Read MoreI used to spend Thursdays in Farmer City, IL. Thirty minutes west, the sun rising in my rearview mirror. Kindergartners greeted me with hugs around my legs, “Miz Trozio! Do we have you today?” At Schneider Elementary, I taught “guidance,” incorporating literature & art into K-3rd classroom lessons about conflict resolution, celebrating differences, and managing emotions of
Read More“What are you arguing about?” An ordinary and fascinating question. Who asks? Who tells? In families, in work places, in organizations, in churches. What is the tone? How does it make you feel? I am surprised to hear Jesus asking. Twice in Mark 9: “What are you arguing about?” Jesus came down from the mountain, where he
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