My grandmother, who passed away eight years ago, read through the Bible annually. I still remember her in her house dress and bathrobe sitting in an old arm chair in the morning leafing through her well-worn King James. I aspire to her consistency but not the house dress and bathrobe, they were kind of awful! continue reading »
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A Time Such as This
These days I find myself often considering and being challenged by Mordecai’s words from Esther 4:14 – And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? The story of Esther has been a source of inspiration for me for some time. Esther’s courage, her commitment to continue reading »
Risk and Reward
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 »
The Harvest
It’s spring. Right? The weather does seem to want to continue to mess with us – it’s still pretty cold some days, it is New England after all, but official spring has sprung. And with it gardening season is upon us. I have an ever-expanding plot in my back yard that I attempt to bend continue reading »
Feeling good . . . doing good . . .
Social Justice Is Not Meant to Make Us Feel Good About Ourselves By Miriam Riad I walked hurriedly toward the Park Street T stop. This was not how I was expected to feel after my first day volunteering at the women and children’s shelter. As I got on the train and sat down, tired, I continue reading »
Linking Justice and Generosity in the Church
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 »
Not our own
(Post by Miriam Riad) “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” – Genesis 2:7 There’s a song that we sing a lot at my church, called “Great Are You Lord.” And every time we continue reading »
Lent
Boston Faith & Justice Network is about bringing Christians together in community. True, there is also a mission we hope to help equip you and ourselves for. But today as we enter Lent together I am writing this just considering how we can strengthen each other in faith that we might be stronger in community continue reading »
A Look at 2017
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 »
Advent by Miriam
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 »