The first time we met Hassan he said to us, “In Sha’ Allah (God willing) some day we can go back to Syria.” It was November 10, 2016, and my husband, Alex, and I had entered the address into our GPS and followed the instructions to Hassan’s family’s home in Sacramento. […]
Features
Strathmore, Alberta: Preparing Room
In the summer of 2015 I heard a CBC radio story about Canadians who formed small groups to sponsor Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s. […]
Sacramento, California: Safe Arrival
Two volunteers, one a college student, the other a small business owner, accompany me on one of the church’s twenty-five-passenger buses to make a late-night trek to Sacramento International Airport. […]
South Sudan: Caught In The Conflict
The numbers of people who have been forced to leave their homes throughout the world are staggering and growing—imagine the entire population of the United Kingdom or half the population of Mexico having to leave their homeland. How do we begin to understand what that means? […]
It’s Not You, Church. It’s Me.
There are times when I am just a teensy bit jealous of my twenty-year-old […]
Torn from Home
According to the most recent statistics, more than 65 million people-close to the population of France-are forcibly displaced from their homes and communities worldwide. […]
Tali’s Song
Tali Johnson grew up in a strongly religious, conservative Muslim family in Kermanshah, Iran. Just as all the women in her family did, she married at age fifteen. […]
Culture of Adoration
Tim Lowly’s large-scale triptych “Culture of Adoration,” disorients first-time observers […]
Cruel Companion
When doctors couldn’t heal my searing headaches, I learned to accept my pain as an integral part of my identity—and then it left. […]
Cat on a Drawbridge
With zeal, I write: Resolution #1: My body is a temple. I will no longer steal my children’s marshmallow Santas. […]
The Dark Night
When I was a little boy I was afraid of the dark. We had a scary basement with only a single light bulb hanging over the washer and dryer, leaving everything else in shadows. […]
Expressions: The Crown of Christmas
Rough lines outline a humble stable scene where the birth of Christ is celebrated by lowly oxen and sheep. […]