News from the Field

“I want to bake 100 cookies!” my 5-year-old announced over the noise of a crying baby and loud kitchen fan. 

I wanted a nap. 

We were finally getting around to our goal of trying to help the animals of Plaster Creek. Plaster Creek brings my family countless hours of joy as we hike and bike on the trail near our home in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Mich. 

Plaster Creek also happens to be the most contaminated creek in West Michigan. In fact, when coloring a picture of the creek, my son commented, “Shouldn’t the water be BROWN instead of blue?” 

Karolyn is the newest member of the Office of Social Justice team. She joins our team this week as the Justice Mobilizing and Advocacy Fellow, a one year position with our office. Karolyn comes to us with a background in Sociology after attending Calvin College. We are thrilled to welcome Karolyn to the team!

The tragic event in London Ontario on Sunday June 6 has traumatized many Canadians, and especially Muslim Canadians. In the event, five Muslim pedestrians were struck down by a truck driven by a young white man who self-identified as a Christian. The Afzaal-Salman family had developed a routine during Covid-19 of taking evening walks. Of the five, four have died and the youngest remains in hospital.

This is an excerpt from a sermon I recently preached at the CRC’s Campus Ministry at the University of Toronto (my alma mater!).

Words spoken by the wise bring them favor, 

    but the lips of fools consume them.

The words of their mouths begin in foolishness,

    and their talk ends in wicked madness;

yet fools talk on and on.

His voice emanated from the speaker, with its signature low timbre and deliberate cadence. “I can’t believe I’m on a conference call with Jim Wallis!” I thought to myself.

‘There remains an experience of incomparable value. We have for once learnt to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled – in short, from the perspective of those who suffer.’

Justice and mercy are the tangible expressions of loving our neighbors as God has loved us. They are the ways that we live like Jesus here and now, affirming the goodness of God’s image in others. Raising kids who practice justice and mercy is some of the most faith-forming work you’ll ever do as a parent. The 5 “L”s that follow are designed to help. (See the attachment for a printable version.)

President Joe Biden ordered a pause on new oil and gas leases on public lands in an executive order issued Jan. 27 to address the climate crisis. He also committed his administration to an ambitious conservation goal — to protect 30 percent of U.S.

It may be tempting to think that the call to care for creation is more political than theological, and at best whisked away to a few obscure passages of Scripture; that all the talk about churches and solar panels, reducing carbon emissions to love the creation, and reconnecting to the land are outside of the purview of the church. And yet, a deep dive into the Scriptures shows that the people of God and their well-being are intimately tied up in how they treat the land, the creatures, the sea, and the sky.