Dear friends,

Last weekend, I attended the Church at the Crossroads conference in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. About 800 of us gathered together in person and online.

This conference did something unusual and difficult. It invited American Christians to reckon with Israel’s devastation of Gaza. Our host, Daniel Bannoura, told the audience that if we’ve ever wondered how we might have responded to American slavery or the German Holocaust or apartheid in South Africa, we know by how we respond to Gaza today.

Unsurprisingly, the conference was intense. There were over fifteen official speakers and many more voices. They filled these two and a half days with profoundly inspiring but equally heartbreaking messages.

Looking back, here’s what most impressed me about the conference: its resolute commitment to the ethics of Jesus.

I saw this in three ways.

1. Unwavering Nonviolence

Every speaker affirmed an explicit, emphatic commitment to nonviolence. This was the unwavering consensus.

Recall the grim context. We heard again and again about Israel’s devastation of Gaza, including the killing of around 20,000 Palestinian children and the destruction of Gaza’s hospitals, schools, and homes... Read More

Dear friends,

What’s golden to you? What really captures your heart? Below, I’ll share a 60-second meditation on what Jesus considered most important in life. He offers a different vision of value that shows the way of hope today.

I’m also sharing the recording of the first podcast interview on my book Reviving the Golden Rule. I’ve never done a podcast conversation like this before. I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Thank you for joining me in reviving the golden rule,

Andrew

True Gold

“In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.”

– Jesus (Matthew 7:12)

Powerful politicians promise us a “golden age.” They tell us to get behind them and expect to get ahead of others. Jesus made an alternate offer: the golden rule. In this moral economy, others count just as much as ourselves. Our desire is reoriented around everyone receiving the care they need. While a golden age accepts double-standards and increasing inequality, the golden rule aspires for moral integrity and mutual flourishing... Read More

Dear friends,

The stories we tell about one another have incredible power in shaping our relationships and societies. Below, I’ll share a 60-second meditation on how Jesus talked about “the other” in his culture. Jesus shows us what hopeful, healing storytelling can sound like in our world today.

If you want to dig deeper, I’m also sharing the recording of the first webinar on my book Reviving the Golden Rule. This conversation was so thought-provoking, and I trust you’ll enjoy it.

Thank you for joining me in reviving the golden rule,

Andrew

A New Story

“Do this and you will flourish.”

– Jesus (Luke 10:28)

The stories we tell about others shape our relationships and world. In Jesus’ society, Samaritans were often storied as villains. Religious, ethnic, and political differences marked them for rejection. But Jesus rewrote the script. When a religious leader asked him about how to go to heaven, Jesus told a story about a good Samaritan who practiced love for his suffering enemy... Read More

Dear friends,

Are you also troubled by the way “others” are being talked about and treated today?

In recent days, the president moved to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of

War. This expensive move sends a message of hostility near and far. He then announced a “Chipocalypse,” comparing ICE’s “war” against our undocumented neighbors in Chicago to dropping napalm on people in the Vietnam War. (His words “I love the smell of deportations in the morning” was a reference to the infamous movie line “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”) Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has defended ICE stopping people in L.A. simply on the basis of their ethnicity or appearance. This is racial profiling that none of us would want to be subjected to.

There is such a great need to revive seeing “others” as our neighbors today. God is calling us to reclaim loving our neighbors as the heart of a faithful ethic. This courageous love is the ancient way to a better future of true dignity, security, and peace for all people... Read More

Dear friends,

Do you follow the news?

Last night, I read about a young man killing children in Minneapolis. And then about the Israeli military bombing journalists and medical staff in a hospital in Gaza. And then about the Russian military attacking Kyev and leaving more people’s lives in rubble.

Reading these stories – facing these realities – is extremely painful to me. Seeing images of starving children in Gaza is especially distressing. I confess that I want to turn away.

I know that turning away doesn’t make this evil stop. But facing it head-on can feel overwhelming to me. In a split second, I can experience a tailspin of (1) desperately wanting this suffering to end, (2) not knowing what to do about it, and (3) feeling like my tank of hope just spilled a little emptier.

Where the Headlines Meet the Heart

For the last month, I’ve been working on an experiment. To be honest, it’s felt very vulnerable to me, so I haven’t even announced it until now... Read More