Category: take action

politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.

Strangers bring us closer to God

Sara Miles didn’t grow up in the church – she just walked in one day – and now she runs a food pantry right out of the very sanctuary she came to know God in. She shared her story on NPR’s “This I Believe” segment.

That first communion knocked me upside-down. Faith turned out not to be abstract at all, but material and physical. I’d thought Christianity meant angels and trinities and being good. Instead, I discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.

I came to believe that God is revealed not only in bread and wine during church services, but whenever we share food with others — particularly strangers. I came to believe that the fruits of creation are for everyone, without exception — not something to be doled out to insiders or the deserving.“

Listening to the story and reading along gave me chills – especially when she came to the ending:

But I learned that hunger can lead to more life — that by sharing real food, I’d find communion with the most unlikely people; that by eating a piece of bread, I’d experience myself as part of one body. This I believe: that by opening ourselves to strangers, we will taste God.

listen to the full story

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ – Matthew 25:35 & 36

Gas prices expected to drop after strike ends

As our economy continues to be based more and more more on a global level, its important to realize what happens in Nigeria may not stay in Nigeria.

A recent strike in Nigeria as caused Exxon to completely shut-down production there, hurting the balance between supply and demand world-wide. But now it looks like the striking workers requests may have been solved and oil production can continue.

Also, recent attacks on oil refineries have also led to a reduction in overall oil production.
Continue reading Gas prices expected to drop after strike ends

Switch off that television

This video is making it’s rounds around the Interweb. I’ve seen it on 3 or 4 sites now but saw it first on Thomas’ blog a day or two ago. Everyone’s had some great opinions on it. I personally like Thomas’ best – maybe cause we’re looking at things in a similar way.

I’ll try not to steal his thunder. Watch the video and then read his post for sure. But here are just a couple highlights:

From the video:

Media that’s targeted at you but doesn’t include you may not be worth sitting still for.

Thomas writes:

The way Clay expresses it is basically… the new media (blogging/wikipedia/youtube etc) = consuming + producing + sharing > this is a shift from the old media that only expects you to consume.

People are watching less television and are doing something… making something happen… like just now as I create this post. It reminds me of the old Why don’t you? motto :: Why Don’t You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? :: kind of ironic, I know… but its real… and its now!

I have some great friends who chose not to purchase a TV for the first couple years of their marriage. They only had a small Commodore monitor hooked up to a VCR for watching movies. They finally gave in though when Tim needed his Texas Rangers fix and probably didn’t help that their girls were getting older – but I wonder how different our lives would be if we all stopped simply consuming television on a daily basis….

79 religious groups oppose nuclear bomb plant

“How do you dismantle an atomic bomb? With love”

Found info on this via Brian McLaren’s blog today…

…in the new issue of Sojourners, you can learn how Henry Kissinger and other Reagan administration leaders have joined together to promote not just a limitation in the development of nuclear weapons, but more … the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free world. You may find this hard to believe, but it’s true.
And you can read the moving story of an anti-nuclear activist who has experienced a fusion of activism and Christian faith here.
More good news: over 100,000 people have sent an email to the Department of Energy urging them not to develop new and more powerful nuclear warheads, and urging them instead to work for a nuclear-weapons-free world.
Even more good news – our emails have challenged the Department of Energy to extend the comment period until tomorrow, Wednesday.

Continue reading 79 religious groups oppose nuclear bomb plant