Posts by Joey Ager
What’s in a Name?
There was a pause, some nervous laughter, and then a recognition that she had named something important: as long as we are more focussed on finding new followers for our own project than on the faithful work to be done, we will always be divided rivals competing for the victory of our mission.
Read MorePentecost
All around our communities, in myself, and in our churches, we continue to be held captive to this imperial dream — unity, control and stability through enforced uniformity. Here in the US, it is enshrined on Caesar’s coin: e pluribus unum. In a political culture riven by purity, heretics are exiled. Theology is too often a pitched, but ultimately Pyrrhic, battle to define the orthodox and win the favor of power. The story we tell this week, however, dreams a startlingly different dream.
Read MoreTransfer or Transform?
A week ago, a 21-year old white Christian man, baptised and active in his local church, walked into three spas near Atlanta, Georgia with a gun and killed 8 people, 6 of whom were Asian American.
Read MoreAd-liberation
A local Pastor was telling me about her neighbors’ reaction to a proposed winter shelter. It was set to be located in a large and currently empty community center in their affluent neighborhood.
Every year in the Pacific Northwest winter, unsheltered neighbors die of exposure to the cold—the shelter will offer a simple place to sleep during the hardest months. But on this neighborhood’s local social media pages, in the press, on the TV news, and in government hearings, compassion was hard to find.
Read MoreThe Impossible Purity Tests
Last week I walked along Tacoma Avenue, and found myself passing Simone’s yellow tent on the grass right next to the street. Now that the October rain is here, and…
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