Reads of the Week
1) I Am Not a Pacifist (But I Live in that Land) by Christie Purifoy
"Now we are reading different stories. These stories are written in quiet Quaker graveyards. On roadside historical markers titled Underground Railroad. These stories are written in the tranquil abundance of small Amish and Mennonite farmsteads. Together, we see a bearded young man harvesting his field behind a team of six shaggy workhorses. He stands so tall and still on his wagon, it is suddenly easy for me to read the heroism of Pennsylvania pacifists. From generation to generation, they have not moved with the moving world. Their steadfastness has carved deep grooves of beauty and peace into this landscape."
2) The Sunday She Stood by Megan Gahan
"And though jealousy is touted as an emotion we're supposed to flee from, I confess I don't regret that ugly feeling bubbling full-force up and into the depths of my soul. Because it stirred something in me. Something I hadn't known until that very moment. I had no idea that a part of my heart had been dormant. That I'd always felt a bit squashed into a too tight mold of womanhood. That I had been holding on to a deep wild hope that there was more. That there could be more."
3) Me and Michael Brown's Mama – Nothing in Common by Maria Dixon
"As I watched the tattooed woman with the bright colored shell top mourning her son, her peroxide dyed hair: two-toned, parted down the middle, reminded me of the sisters I would see rolling into Sally's to get the color their girl was going to use in their 'kitchen shop' later that night. She was a teenage mother, who raised her child in her mama's house. An 'around the way' sister, I knew that she would be one of those chicks that I would say good morning to and then try to slyly take a picture of to send to my crew and ask, 'why can't our people do better?'"
4) Holy Relics: The Church Bulletin by Martyn Wendell Jones
"Here is a moment of clarity in the chaos. But out in the roiling tumult, a journalist bleeds into a patch of sand under a sky that's still God's, if memory serves. What's outside this ongoing act of community can be downright horrifying, although that isn't to say that what's within the community can't be. Moses can't look at God full on in the face because if he did, he'd die. We can't look at the world without interposing a filter either, and perhaps for similar reasons. Would your mind stay whole if you were privy to the suffering of the whole race?"
5) Evangelicalism's Poor Form by Alistair Roberts
"Evangelical identity is also widely expressed through the forms of a consumer society: through corporate models of Christian leadership, through the production, marketing, advertising, and selling of a Christianity that functions like a 'brand' on everything from mints to keyrings. Few pause to question whether these forms of expression might be shaping us in unhealthy ways, assimilating us into culturally prevailing habits, dynamics, and ways of life and perception, all beneath the cover of a thin veneer of Christianity."
Honorable Mention
The Book that Changed Lydia's Life by D.L. Mayfield
To Ferguson and beyond by Carol Howard Merritt
Tweets of the Week
"i wrote the washington football team’s name for years and stopped when it was trendy to stop. i’m a hero, basically, is what i’m saying" - @jon_bois
"Not tonight, honey. I'm suffering from the angst of post-industrial man under late capitalism." - @VikramParalkar
"The first rule of Thesaurus Club is you don't talk about, mention, speak of, discuss, or chat about Thesaurus Club." - @Pundamentalism
On Pop Theology Week in Review
10 People Doing the Awesome Work of Racial Justice & Reconciliation by Rebekah Mays
"If you’re like me, you weren’t able to take your eyes off your Twitter feed a few weeks ago. If you’re like me, you still feel grieved and overwhelmed by what you’ve seen in Ferguson, and maybe even a little cynical that it’s ever going to get better."
Pop Culture Gospels: Martha and Mary Do Pinterest Projects by Charity Erickson
"Now as they were traveling along, Jesus entered a gentrified warehouse district and a wellness blogger named Martha welcomed Him into her farmhouse-inspired loft."
Song of the Week
"Holy Blood" by Alabama 3
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