Hunger
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.
Read MoreRepairing the World
Our 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
Read Morewhat do we have to offer?
“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
Read MoreYour Audience
the 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
Read MoreNonconforming
This 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
Read MoreShowing Up
I’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
Read MoreOpportunity Knocking
Mississippi 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
Read MoreOur Father
Everybody 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
Read MoreLining Up Last
I 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
Read MoreOur Discussions
“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
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