By Christina Tinglof “Wherever you turn your eyes the world shines like transfiguration. You don’t have to bring a thing to it but a little willingness to see. Only who could have the courage to see it?” The first time […]
Arts & Culture
Charles Pettee: The Psalms Are Folk Music
Charles Pettee: The Psalms Are Folk Music By Paul Koptak September 2015 After a Catholic school upbringing and an evangelical season in high school, Charles Pettee headed off to college thinking that too much of the faith he had [...]
Sound Picks: Songs of Searching
Reviewed by John Potter Sometimes songs that weren’t written to be sung in church are the ones that connect us to God most deeply. Here are six albums released in the last decade that you won’t find in the “Christian […]
The Poetry of Grief
By Elise Steel My faith journey started when I was seventeen years old. I thought God had complete control of the world—so much control that once someone became a Christian, bad things no longer happened to him or her. Life […]
History of a People
Congo: The Epic History of a People David Van Reybrouck Translated by Sam Garrett Ecco, 2014 639 pages If you liked King Leopold’s Ghost, Adam Hochschild’s tale of the carving up of Congo by King Leopold of Belgium, you will […]
A Call to Action
A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power Jimmy Carter Simon & Schuster, 2014 224 pages Jimmy Carter left the presidency before I was born, so my images of him tend to emerge from history books: pictures of long […]
The Selma Effect
By Marcus Antoine Simmons “People who innovated, created, and who love despite pressures and tortures unimaginable. They are in our bloodstream, pumping our hearts every second. They’ve prepared you. You are already prepared.” Amelia Boynton Robinson speaks these words over […]
Review: Telling the Truth
I served a church where we regularly confessed our sins in unison readings or responsively, followed by words of assurance from one of the pastors. After several months a friend came up to me concerned that always having to confess […]
Review: A Questioning Faith
For fans of Marilynne Robinson’s fiction (and they are legion), the rural Iowa town of Gilead in the 1950s has become a familiar and cherished landscape for her captivating stories of faith and human nature. In Gilead, the story of […]
FlickPicks: Missions
This year Friends of World Mission celebrates fifty years of support for global ministry projects, so we asked a few Covenant leaders to share their favorite films on missions. A few of their recommendations: The Inn of the Sixth Happiness […]
Expressions | Rise: Dream City
Rise: Dream City Tim Anderson, Ink (markers) on paper, 9″ x 11″ The word graffiti comes from the Italian graffiato, which means “scratched.” Early inscriptions and images were often scratched onto the surface of stone walls—communicating stories and sometimes giving […]
Author Releases Project with ‘Title Pending’
By Stan Friedman CONCORD, CA (January 2, 2015) — Justin McRoberts’ latest book Title Pending: Things I Think About While I’m Creating may sound like some sort of vanity project, but it really is an exhortation for people to live out […]