Articles on Community
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A Long Breath in the Season of Busyness
Today’s blog is by Areeta Bridgemohan One sunny Saturday early in December, 12 church members and I gathered to spend a quiet morning together in the company of Howard Thurman and Lerita Coleman Brown. It was a friendly group, some of whom were unknown to each other prior to this day. We began by introducing…
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Finding Hope
Today’s blog is by Mary van Balen People long for hope, for peace, for cooperation. While some are bent on stirring up distrust, and spreading fear based on dividing the world into “us” and “them,” most of humankind is looking for a better way in 2020. Many I talked with over the holidays desire an…
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Evening with the Senator
Today’s blog post is by Patience Robbins I recently had the wonderful opportunity to spend an evening with Senator Tim Kaine (VA) at the Shalem office. It was a time of deep inspiration and sharing of light and hope. Because of a personal friendship with a member of the Shalem Board, Senator Kaine joined 25…
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Reimagining Confession As Noticing
Confession has always been a part of the Christian tradition of spiritual deepening. As such, it has all too often been understood within a dynamic of payment due, penance to be done, conditional forgiveness, substitutionary Christology. No doubt for many, a deepening of their spiritual lives and even a re-formation of the direction of their…
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What Holding A Newborn Can Teach Us About God’s Amazing Love
Today’s blog is by Tom Adams Sometimes I find it very difficult to appreciate and accept how much God loves me and you. The world seems kind of gloomy; my own and others’ imperfections seem to shout at me. Other times I get a glimpse of the tenderness and sweetness of God’s love and am…
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To Have Eyes to See as the Saints See!
An Evening in Assisi In the spring of 2016, I spent ten days in Assisi and its surrounding region on a Shalem pilgrimage to visit the sacred sites of the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare. I went without knowing much about either saint or Assisi, but trusting that whatever the trip offered would…