Our crisis raises deeper questions: How do you cultivate spiritual courage in the face of oppression? How do you summon compassion across cultural canyons? How do you encourage a sense of oneness in a fragmented society?”
In his later years, Rep. John Lewis turned to a new method to tell his Civil Rights-era experiences. The March graphic novel trilogy covers Lewis’ upbringing in the Jim Crow-era South and the experiences that helped him grow into his own. By the time of his death in 2020, Lewis was preparing the next chapter, entitled Run, Vol. I. Published posthumously in 2021, Run shares some of Lewis’ deepest struggles in the Civil Rights movement.
If we follow Jesus’ radical example and teachings about love, it will ooze from our pores. We won’t need parlor tricks or a $100 million ad campaign. Our love for others will shine so brightly that it will be impossible to miss.
In Chicago, the preservation of the Black Panther Party’s historical sites is more than just a question over whether a place should be on a national register – it’s a spiritual question. The places that are central to the Black Panther Party also have the capacity to move us still today to consider their urgent, burning questions. And isn’t that the work of the church?
Progressive Christianity may be unique only in that it is willing to recognize and own, or at least strive to recognize and own, that faithfulness is continually a work in progress.
The conversations were an exercise in slow church. They took time but they were worth every second. Because of those conversations the ministry at Judson Church is now more focused and is directed not by what we think others need and want, but by what they have told us they need and want.