Nearly one in five of us — 18 percent — has an anxiety disorder. We spend over $2 billion a year on anti-anxiety medications. College students are often described as more stressed than ever before. Anxiety in children is also on the rise. Faith communities are one place to lift up the intrinsic goals of finding meaning, worth and purpose through the shared values of a caring community.
Raising children in faith is one of the biggest responsibilities for faith educators — clergy, lay leaders, family members and others. Lent and Holy Week hold their own particular challenges with stories of Jesus’ life, ministry and crucifixion and themes of sin, betrayal, political machinations, death and resurrection. Such topics are difficult for adults to understand, let alone children.
Yes, religious liberty is enshrined in our Constitution, but people can certainly mess with it because the U.S. Constitution is a living and amendable document.
The American experiment, which is fundamentally what this country is, relies on participation — not only voting (which it demands) but also participation. Showing up. Rolling up the proverbial sleeves. Having ideas, putting feet to them, and making them work. That also means America evolves. The very nature of participation means that the system is changed by those who participate in it; that’s simply how systems work.
Those of us who oppose what the president is doing — opposition rooted in deeply Christian principles of justice — have cautioned each other repeatedly: Avoid outrage fatigue, but what outrage does to your heart is far more insidious than fatigue.
It’s unsettling, jaw-dropping and alarming to hear the seemingly unending reports of Christians in lockstep with the prejudicial practices, policies and proclamations coming from a chorus of our country’s highest elected officials.
You are dust, and to dust you shall return.
— Genesis 3:19