It’s been quite the year! Thanks for reading and learning along with us, as we wrestled with faith and justice with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other (Karl Barth).
Here are the top Do Justice articles (ranked by top pageviews) that got you thinking and acting in 2018:
"The history of white supremacy is present with us, in all that we do. The only way to dismantle the idol of white supremacy is with a triune God-centered imagination, and a relentless commitment to dethrone it in the church and all other institutions to follow Christ in bringing shalom on God’s terms."
"This has been the approach of many churches comprised of people of color: to advocate for policies which reduce poverty and discrimination as a way to diminish the number of abortions. Why would two groups of Christians come to such radically different strategies on this issue?"
"I became a black woman when I was in college. That may sound strange to some, but where I was raised, we didn’t do race, we did ethnicity."
"There is something about the presence of headscarves in my Houston grocery store that I really do appreciate."
"This was not the CRC that I thought we were. I was appalled at what I was learning: that we were far too often protecting the institution and the leaders at the expense of those harmed."
"When the Church forgets that we exist for the sake of God’s never-ending reaching out, we forget who we are. When the Church focuses on retaining cultural power, we forget who we are. Lent is a corrective, a refocusing through prayer and disciplines on Christ and his upside-down Kingdom call on our lives."
"If Jewish expectation was local (Israel), Jesus’ expectations was global (all the earth). If Jewish expectation was tribal (blessing Israel), Jesus’ expectation was universal (blessing all)."
"If I strip away my self-righteous anger at them, I recognize the oppressive white rage that insists that none of this would have to happen if the rules were followed, the law observed, if people would just listen when we (white people) told them (people of color) what to do."
"Advocacy has become a discipline through which I can answer Christ’s call of ‘Mine!’ Through continuing conversations I’ve come to know that this work must be grounded in humility and the knowledge that all good comes from God."
"When we look at neighborhoods like mine, do we see them as places of scarcity or places of God’s deep abundance? Can we see people who don’t earn as much as equally endowed by God with creativity, skills, and knowledge that is vital for the flourishing of our neighborhoods?"
We’d like to make special mention of our Do Justice columnists as well, whose contributions have also been frequently read and who have contributed so much to our little online community as they wrestle with justice issues in their local contexts.
[Photo by Devin Avery on Unsplash]
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