Current events with a lens of hope

There are a few refrains I’ve been hearing a lot lately: I’ve been cutting back on social media. No more doomscrolling. I just can’t look at all the headlines.

I get it—and I’ve been cutting back quite a bit on the 24-hour news cycle myself. But at the same time, I want to stay informed. As terrible as many recent appointments and policies have been, they seem like things I should know about. How do we stay informed without falling into despair? I don’t have a silver bullet solution, but I’m grateful for CC articles that thoughtfully engage pressing issues with faith and resolve. This week, for instance, Mac Loftin considers what the parable of the Good Samaritan (as read by Dietrich Bonhoeffer) might have to say to J. D. Vance. And Michael Woolf describes the impact of an executive order about people seeking sanctuary in houses of worship.

It’s a Michael Woolf double feature, because he also joins me in our video of the week for a deeper dive into the church sanctuary movement. Plus extra new content below, including an essay about the possibilities of church camp, a column about some Christians’ addiction to revenge, and more.

J. D. Vance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the parable of the Good Samaritan

“Bonhoeffer presciently describes just the kind of noxious sophistry J. D. Vance and his allies deploy in their use of the ordo amoris. His call to care for the despised and excluded remains just as urgent today.”

by Mac Loftin

Sanctuary in houses of worship has always been tenuous

“Despite its long history, sanctuary enjoys few legal protections. There is no law that says religious spaces are in any way different from your local Starbucks. However, the federal government has long been loath to interfere in such spaces due to the First Amendment.”

by Michael Woolf

VIDEO: The movement of churches providing sanctuary for immigrants

Pastor and sanctuary expert Michael Woolf joins Jon to discuss Trump’s executive order, the sanctuary movement, and more.

In the Lectionary for March 2 (Transfiguration C)

Peter, James, and John are all of us.

Transfiguration C archives

Kindled in the wild

“What conversations about scripture, prayer, and faith that start at camp could families continue back home? In what ways could camps support parents and grandparents in partnering with their youngsters in faith formation throughout the year?”

by Meggan Manlove

A dish best not served

“Of particular interest to Christians, one would think, is the resurrected Lord returning to his communities not to make his killers pay but to offer them yet more love. Evidently, many find this magnanimity uncompelling, right alongside Jesus’ admonition to resist an eye-for-an-eye approach to life.”

by Peter W. Marty