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Already and Not Yet

Reflect on our role in God's restorative work, and recognize both renewal and continued brokenness. Be encouraged by stories of challenges and successes in the pursuit of shalom.

Where does climate science fit in the biblical story?

Last month at the annual Synod of the CRCNA, an overture was advanced concerning a decision made at Synod 2012 about climate change. In 2012, Synod adopted the CRCNA’s Creation Stewardship Task Force’s recommendations on the issue which in-part concluded a “near-consensus … that climate change is occurring and is very likely due to human activity and that human-made climate change poses a threat to the world” (Acts of Synod 2012, p. 803).

Woman Enough

Nothing is more beautiful than a woman who is brave, strong, and emboldened because of who Christ is in her. - Project Inspired 
 
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Does Our Strength Lie in Isolation?

When I started attending a Christian Reformed church in 1973, my only interest in the church was it had a basketball court inside the building. Over time, I found the pastors were gracious and kind. The interracial congregation felt its mission was that all African American lives would flourish on the west side of Chicago.

You May Have More Power than You Think

There’s one exercise I distinctly remember from a regional gathering of ministry interns and supervisors. We were asked to place ourselves on a line in relation to what power we felt we held in that room.

I placed myself at the lowest end of the line.

I placed myself at the lowest end of the line. I was not yet ordained and hadn’t yet finished my education, was fairly low income, was the one learning in that room and not teaching, and I was one of the youngest women, who also lives with a physical disability (Cerebral Palsy).

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Grounded in Grace

“Grace is bad arithmetic”--famous words from my pastor Dave Vroege in a sermon just over a year ago. He continued, explaining how grace is nonsense.

“Grace is bad arithmetic.”

Nonsense! Why? Because it is given to us regardless of whether we want it or not.

I’ve always understood grace to be an action word. An invitation on how to behave and act. It’s the absence of anger and the presence of love and peacefulness.

Hard words to hold when one is full of rage.

Homeless Prophets and Tragic Hope

We're excited to welcome Jeremiah Damir Bašurić as a Do Justice columnist! Jeremiah lives in Edmonton, where he pastors a multi-cultural Reformed church plant called mosaicHouse Church, works at The Mustard Seed, and hikes with his wife Sarah. 


 

Ever since I realized my name was in the Bible, I wanted to get acquainted with the book and the prophet Jeremiah. I read Jeremiah 4:23-27 the other day looking for inspiration:  

Childbirth: Dangerous Work for Women

This is the first post in Pro-Mama, a 4-part series reflecting on God's gift of life in the first 1000 days of a baby's life--from conception to age 2.
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Eager “hellos” rang in my ears as I greeted my Fulani friends. I had been absent for over a year during which I gave birth to my third child, a daughter, with a midwife in a birthing center.

Leading and Longing

Like most Sundays, I’m at the piano leading my congregation in worship. The lights are lowered in the gym-turned-sanctuary where we worship.

Nanette: Devastating and Prophetic

I don’t often have enough time to watch a full-length movie or comedy special. By the time evening rolls around and the kids are in bed, the house is relatively (emphasis on relatively) tidy, garden tasks are completed, and my partner and I are sitting together on the couch, I usually have just enough energy to read a few pages of a novel before my eyelids droop. As many friends remind us, my partner and I are in that season when ‘the days are long and the years are short’. These days, the days feel particularly long.

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The Story behind the Abuse Overture

The letter to the attorney begins, “I am Wesley Heersink's brother, Stan... It is with frustration and disappointment that I am writing this letter to you now. The letters we have written to the church leadership go unanswered...”

As soon as I read that sentence, I thought: “Leadership has to respond to an overture. Write an overture.”

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