NOTE: I was asked to submit a piece to a powerful advent devotional called #F***ThisS*** and was assigned this title and passage from Matthew. The clergy who launched it feel a sense of urgency in this moment that I also feel, and they have incorporated strong language to convey that urgency much as the prophetsContinue reading “Shut the f*** up”
Category Archives: communication
Could your church help your community find hope in the wake of the election?
Last weekend, people started reaching out to me because they were afraid, and they didn’t want to stay that way. They didn’t want to rage or burn things down; they wanted to find a way to contribute to their community, to help others overcome fear. So with the help of a PHENOMENALLY gifted intern, theContinue reading “Could your church help your community find hope in the wake of the election?”
Nonviolence, privilege and grief. Thoughts on South Carolina and a child I love.
This morning I sat down to write a letter to a beloved recent teen in my life, a newly minted thirteen-year-old. We go to protests a lot, and museums where we learn about farm workers and the Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement. This beloved recent teen has been to hell and back, andContinue reading “Nonviolence, privilege and grief. Thoughts on South Carolina and a child I love.”
Building Community in a World Uninterested in Community
My roommate and I reached an impasse yesterday. I could be wrong, but I think the impasse ended with him feeling sorry for a poor old thing so lonely she needed the young man she cooked for to keep her company and me feeling sorry for a young man more focused on making it bigContinue reading “Building Community in a World Uninterested in Community”
Christmas values – Day 11: Overcoming fear
A friend of mine has vowed to recognize every action as an act of love or reaching out for love. She vowed that in the midst of the Ferguson and New York protests and possibly even after the police shootings that was followed by some truly alarming statements by Fraternal Orders of Police and policeContinue reading “Christmas values – Day 11: Overcoming fear”
Thoughts on Serial, my killer ex, and Whose Lives Matter
I’m finally listening to the series Serial that everyone’s talking about (or at least all of my intellectual liberal White friends). It’s about a guy who’s been in prison for 15 years for killing his high school ex-girlfriend except he maybe didn’t do it. (As an aside, I’m on episode 8, and finally an attorney fromContinue reading “Thoughts on Serial, my killer ex, and Whose Lives Matter”
This bridge called my back in this new civil rights movement moment
Navigating “not Black or White” and “Nonviolent but not non-violent” as an ally and activist I suspect every woman of color in America has at multiple points felt that Donna Kate Rushin wrote the Bridge poem for her. As I wonder whether the bonds of friendship with my radical anarchist friends of color will hold andContinue reading “This bridge called my back in this new civil rights movement moment”
About and not with: the big failing of the immigration debate
When my father went through his interview for US citizenship, he talked so much about Jamestown and Williamsburg (where we had gone on vacation) that eventually the INS interviewer threw up his hands and said, “OK! ENOUGH!” At least that’s the way my mother tells the story. I remember the naturalization ceremony in downtown Akron whenContinue reading “About and not with: the big failing of the immigration debate”
The case against “rent a collar:” religion and workers’ rights
Workers Prayer Lord Jesus, We offer you this day our works, Our hopes and struggles, Our joys and sorrows. Give us and all workers of the world The grace to work as you did So that everything we do May benefit our fellowmen and Glorify GOD, our Father. Your Kingdom come Into allContinue reading “The case against “rent a collar:” religion and workers’ rights”
The Myth of Street Smarts versus Book Smarts
Delivered June 13, 2014, at Disciples Divinity House at the University of Chicago annual Convocation. I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it. He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back, and written on it were words of lamentation andContinue reading “The Myth of Street Smarts versus Book Smarts”
Sandhya Rani Jha 