By Miriam Riad Throughout Scripture, we see that followers of Jesus are required to take risks. Whether it is risk of social status, risk of losing possessions, or even risk of their very lives, Christians are called to this life of abandonment. One of my favorites passages of Scripture is Mark 10, where Jesus has continue reading »
Linking Generosity and Justice in the Church Early spring to summer is a transition time in the church—Holy Week is over, programs are lighter, congregants are preparing for vacations and enjoying warmer weather. But it is also a time when significant activity is happening below the surface, the spring planting of new ministry opportunities and continue reading »
Christa and I are excited to begin 2017 with the Boston Faith & Justice Network. We have been working as Co-Directors for more than two years now and feel like this will be the best year yet—which is saying something because last year was tremendous. We had two great events—Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove came to speak in continue reading »
With the approach of Christmas, I have been thinking about generosity. Christmas is the season of giving, and Jesus is the great giver. All I can think about is how generously He came. With the word justice, there is automatically an association and assumption of action. The angels told the shepherds there was good news. continue reading »
I don’t remember when I first learned about human trafficking. I think I was in high school. I didn’t even know what fair trade was until college. Modern day slavery was not in my vocabulary. And I remember, upon first learning about all these injustices that exist in my lifetime, in my own backyard, I continue reading »
Intentionality in creating a giving strategy is a significant way to make your generosity more transformative—for the people and organizations you give to and for yourself as a spiritual practice. For many, taking the time to write out a check and send it (rather than automate everything in order to remember to give) is a continue reading »
The practice of open-hearted, unafraid generosity is not simple. It’s fairly easy to accept the idea that we should be generous with our resources (which, in any calculation, belong to God), and it might even come easily to decide to be generous. But the practice, the choosing how and where to give, is where we—certainly continue reading »
“To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda or even stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.” -Dorothy Day Does your giving change the world? Does it change you? These continue reading »
In an interesting trend in our consumer-wins-all society, a movement toward minimalism is starting to take hold. People are questioning the rationale of endless purchasing and looking to get out from under the suffocating pressure of stuff. Blogs and articles on pursuing contentment through means other than acquiring more and better things are drawing millions continue reading »
“What if life itself was meant to be one long alleluia moment?” –Sister Joan Chittister Apparently, gratitude is powerful. So powerful, in fact, that researchers say keeping a gratitude journal for two weeks can positively affect your outlook for months. Choosing to be grateful can alleviate anxiety and depression, or improve physical health. Gratitude can continue reading »
