Jesus Christ needs to be understood more realistically than as a high ideal that we try to apply to historical reality. Jesus Christ was deeply engaged in historical struggle. Jesus is the revelation of God’s engagement in historical struggle. from A Thicker Jesus
Immanuel means ‘God with us.’ And not in the sense that God just showed up or arrived on the scene. A thousand times no. In spite of the fact it changed everything, the birth of Jesus didn’t technically create a new reality for God or us; rather, it was simply and...
In Christ’s incarnation all of humanity regains the dignity of bearing the image of God. Whoever from now on attacks the least of the people attacks Christ, who took on human form and who in himself has restored the image of God for all who bear a human countenance....
When we read about John the Baptist during Advent, we sometimes mistakenly see him as the wild one preparing the way for the mild one, when what I think he may be actually saying is "get ready for one who is even wilder than I am--wilder for love, wilder for justice,...
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can...
The decision for hope rests on what we believe at the deepest levels — what our most basic convictions are about the world and about God and about the future. We choose hope, not as a naïve wish, but as a choice with our eyes wide open to the reality of the world and...
Deepening our sensitivity to the historical nature of Christian tradition and the mediating role of Christian leaders can help us think much more clearly about our realities and responsibilities today. We can situate ourselves within the flow of Christian history,...
Reflecting...has led me to think that hope and disappointment are part of the same faith perspective. Without hope rooted in a vision of possibility, there would not be the experience of disappointment. As the saying goes, “Expect little, and you will be much less...
You know, what strikes me is how desperately we all need to know that we are seen and heard. We don't need our lives to be different, or easier; we just need someone to see the pain. To know what we've faced and overcome. To say: Yes. I see this. This is real. We...
[W]e can never know the ecstasy of true hope without attending to the tragic realities of the poor and forgotten. from The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement