Anabaptist and Quaker essays, sermons, and other writings
Beatitude: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is the beatitude that I am most nervous to speak about. I’m not nervous because it is a topic that involves actual physical harm. I’m nervous because of all the beatitudes, this […]
Chibuzo Petty How do you understand the difference between writing and writing as ministry? Nick Patler I am not sure I can explain the difference. For me, particularly as a historian whose interest is largely in African American history, writing is about telling stories, giving voice to persons and narratives […]
This is the first Sunday of Lent 2021, but as Diana Butler Bass has named, in some ways, the entire last year has felt like a season of Lent. Lent is that liturgical season of forty days (not counting Sundays) prior to Easter, in which Christians have for centuries taken […]
Mark 13:14-13 Not quite ten years ago, the predictions of Harold Camping of Family Radio in California created a sensation, especially in Christian circles. Camping confidently predicted that, based on a calculation of the creation of the world about 6,000 years ago, that same world would be ending on May […]
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations. – Psalm 82:8 KJV Fast with me: fast and pray on Election Day. The fasting is not to make your prayer any holier, or any more acceptable to God. It’s only to remind you that you’re at prayer, […]
I knew St. Mary’s would be my spiritual home for the academic year from the moment I first visited the parish. Located in Prestbury, a village just outside of Cheltenham, the English town I am spending this year studying abroad in through BCA, St. Mary’s feels the most like home […]
I turned off my car and opened the driver’s side door, stepping out onto 21st Street. After five hours driving from my home in Ohio, it was a relief to stretch my legs and breathe in that Chicago city air. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, this […]
The following originally appeared on the blog Anabaptist Historians and was republished here with the permission of the author. For more on Anabaptist Historians, check out https://anabaptisthistorians.org/about/. History matters in the church. It matters what kinds of stories are told about our past, and who gets to tell them. This was […]
My first trip to the Holy Land was one year and five months ago. It was a trip that absolutely enthralled me. When I returned home, I knew I had to go back. From February through May of this year, I lived with a Palestinian Christian family in Bethlehem. I […]
We seek wisdom from the trees From the stories of Jesus, of you and of me We seek wisdom from the bees From the practice of Sabbath, Shalom, and Jubilee This is life, sacred life, And I want to be alive for it, I want to be alive! -Solveig Nilsen-Goodin […]