Featured Articles
Language Learning: Moving from Hostility to Hospitality
If I had wanted to become a fluent German speaker, I should have started before I was ten years old, which seems to be the best time in life to learn a language. But I didn’t know that one day I would be living and working in a German-speaking part of the world, in a country where a work permit requires proficiency in one of the country’s four official languages.
Featured Articles
The End of White Western Male Supremacy – Lessons Learned from Henk Hart
Before I go any further, I should clarify that I’m not channeling Critical Race Theory or parroting something I picked up in a DEI training. The phrase “white Western male supremacy,” is a direct quote from a 1985 January Series talk by Hendrik (Henk) Hart.
Taking the Plunge in the Secular City: Harvey Wasn’t on the Bus
It may have been The Secular City by Harvey Cox that stirred the pot. Five years after the book’s debut in 1965, a yellow school
In the Overlap: A Short Story
I have no idea how to be a decent soon-to-be-former-mother-in-law. My local library has no self-help books on the topic. I find no such books
A Lesson Never Learned
Because synod has left no space for other opinions, the end result is going to be disaffiliation. The fact that our congregation was even in
Remember to Take and Eat
I wonder if I kept that cup of July 2023 yogurt because I was savoring a memory or because I was fearing loss. But there
1925
Let’s look back at 1925 to see the portents of the year but also its other possibilities, to compare what looked big at the time
An Insurrectionist Set Free
A raucous mob of religious stalwarts gathered on a day centuries ago outside a palace. Like many of those gathered in the Capitol on January
Latest from the Blog
Daily blog by our regular bloggers & guest contributors.
The Weakest Strongest Cord: On Trust & Democracy
I suspect I’m not the only person who, in the face of our nation’s recent authoritarian turn, is struggling to define a posture between outrage
A Tender Turning Point
This is the commemorative hundredth-anniversary book for Alpine Avenue Christian Reformed Church, the church in which I grew up. The anniversary occurred in 1981 when
Music Isn’t a Universal Language
Music’s power to connect and reconcile, like that of language, is not automatic; it has to be built.
Living Water
March 15 was the day the Wisconsin State Climatology Office declared as the official thaw date.
Fierce Saints
I’m writing this on Tuesday, March 25—a fascinating confluence of a day because it’s Flannery O’Connor’s 100thbirthday, it’s Dante Day in Florence (because it’s the
What the Church Growth Movement Gave Me
When I think of what the “church growth movement” gave me, my answers would be anxiety, shame, fear of failure, resentment, and a few other
Good Trouble
Paul did not include the words “comfy” or “detached” in his list. Sometimes the most true thing to acknowledge is that we are worried. Sometimes
Reality Check
Soon enough your life is colored by battles you never signed up for and obligations that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself.
Reviews
The Way of Belonging: Reimagining Who We Are and How We Relate
Westfall encourages her readers to not only know and accept our belonging to God but also to live into the fact that belonging isn’t where
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
Schlanger’s extensive review of cutting-edge plant research reveals that our green neighbors have numerous tricks up their shady sleeves.
How to End Christian Nationalism
Amanda Tyler’s timely new book, How to End Christian Nationalism, is a short and accessible addition to an expanding list of books written by Christians
Invoking the Fathers: Dangerous Metaphors and Founding Myths in Congressional Politics
I highly recommend Invoking the Fathers to anyone interested in navigating the current moment in American history or improving their understanding and practice of rhetoric,
Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself–and to God–When You’re Wounded, Weary, and Wandering
Healing What’s Within is like a two-hundred page conversation with a sage spiritual director.
This Sweet Earth: Walking with Our Children in the Age of Climate Collapse
Wylie-Kellermann’s book is a hope-filled, though realistic call to subvert the darkest version of that future through a variety of means.
My Body is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church
Reading My Body is Not a Prayer Request was a signpost moment in my own life. Rather than a flash of sudden change, finding Kenny’s
Life in Flux: Navigational Skills to Guide and Ground You in an Ever-Changing World
Life in Flux is more than a book; it’s a lifeline for those adrift in uncertain times. By confronting cultural myths and presenting God’s timeless
Poetry
It’s About Us
It’s about us which is an empathy pronoun, replacing her and him and you and it and, praise the Lord, other.
Lost Sheep
Seventy-seven pounds of wool on that merino sheep who got lost
in the Outback.
Table
Let the sparrow take a chair at the Juneteenth table with Elijah …
You Said, Let There Be Light
You said, Let there be light, and there was light. And you saw that the light was good …
Jesus, Son of Gop
On the night he was supposed to be betrayed, Jesus strapped on a Glock under his cloak, just in case the breastplate of righteousness didn’t
Blessed
Unnoticed except by their Maker, my wife and me–a dozen sparrows blissful at their ablutions …
Podcasts
“It’s About Us” by Mark Hiskes
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Mark Hiskes about his poem “It’s About Us.” Hiskes is a
“Lost Sheep” by Margaret DeRitter
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Margaret DeRitter about her poem “Lost Sheep.” DeRitter is the
“Table” by Patrick T. Reardon
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Patrick T. Reardon about his poem “Table.” Reardon, who was
“You Said Let There Be Light” by Michael Zysk
In this episode of the poetry edition of the Reformed Journal Podcast, Rose Postma talks with Michael Zysk about his poem “You Said, Let There
“Life Beneath” by Matthew Pullar
In this episode of the poetry edition of the Reformed Journal Podcast, Rose Postma interviews Matthew Pullar about his poem “Life Beneath.” Pullar is a poet
“Jesus Son of Gop” by Sarah M. Wells
In this episode of the poetry edition of the Reformed Journal Podcast, Rose Postma talks with Sarah M. Wells about her poem “Jesus Son of GOP.” is the