A Good Time for a Walk

During these long days of physical isolation, long walks around my community of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, have been a welcome respite. Those walks have also inevitably stirred my historical curiosity about this town first settled by Europeans in the 17th century. I realized that I had a question: There was something missing from our religious…

The Practicalities of Change:
Racial Integration in a South African Church

In South Africa churches may be among the last bastions of apartheid, but some churchgoers are crossing racial lines, for the sake of survival. Philippolis is a small farm town far away from everything. Far from the city and the government, far from justice and equality. The population is still divided and named — “Colored,”…

Taking Time:
Understanding Neighborhood Engagement as a Long-Term Process

The Huffington Post recently published an article about Shobi’s Table. The article discusses a number of aspects of the new Food Truck ministry in St. Paul, Minnesota. It highlights some aspects of Lutheran theology, the changing views of the ELCA denomination, focusing attention on the minister of Shobi’s Table, Margaret Kelly. But one important, but…

Being Faithful Rememberers: Bringing Congregational Histories Out of the Attic

The Congregational Library and Archives in Boston has the exciting task of preserving – and helping others to preserve – the history of some of the earliest communities of faith in America.  They rescue documents from attics and basements, digitize them, and make them accessible.  While their work is unique, it offers clues to how…