On the Edge, a painting by Lily DeCort

Joy: Our Eucatastrophe

Essays

Dear friends,

Happy (almost) Easter! I’m delighted to share two invitations with you this week: Lily’s new painting newsletter and a meditation on radical joy even when we catastrophize.

First, Lily is launching a monthly newsletter called Echoes of Time. Each newsletter will feature one of Lily’s beautiful paintings and a very brief meditation. Lily’s work is deeply grounding, healing, and joy-giving. I eagerly invite you to sign up for this monthly gift from Lily and enjoy the sample below.

Second, I recently published an Easter meditation called “Joy: Our Eucatastrophe” with Cultivare. This one meant a lot to me, especially as I reflect on the first anniversary of my dad’s death this month. I’m including it below and hope it nurtures a liberating joy in you as you reflect on Jesus’ death and resurrection this week.

Yours with joy,
Andrew

Echoes of Time by Lily DeCort

“The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began.”.. Read More

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Do you enjoy Stop & Think? Become a Sustaining Patron with a monthly donation and invest in my work around the world. Gifts are tax-deductible through the Institute for Faith and Flourishing. Yours with gratitude, Andrew

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My deepest passion is encouraging others in love. As you stop and think with me, I hope you feel more at home in your humanity, less lonely in what you believe, and fresh courage to love others beyond boundaries. Thanks for reading!

Coming Soon

Blessed Are the Others

Blessed Are the Others: Jesus’ Way in a Violent World by Andrew DeCort is a guide that navigates the teachings of Jesus through the lens of the Beatitudes. It offers a trail to a more fulfilling life through vulnerability, compassion, nonviolence, justice, and peacemaking, challenging conventional understandings of religious blessings and prosperity.

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Bonhoeffer’s Wisdom for Today’s Traumas

Essays

Dear friends,

Last week, Dr. Mae Cannon and I shared a rich conversation about Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s wisdom for today’s traumas in Israel and Palestine. As I prepared for this discussion, I was struck again by just how much wisdom Bonhoeffer still has to teach us. I’m grateful to Churches for Middle East Peace and Evangelicals for Justice for hosting this event. The recording is available here.

Today is the 80th anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s execution. Bonhoeffer was hanged by the Nazis in the Flössenburg concentration camp on April 9, 1945 at the age of 39. The official charge against him was “acts of subversion of military power.” Bonhoeffer earned this deadly honor by refusing to join the German military and assisting the resistance to Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler.

To honor Bonhoeffer’s life and witness, I’m sharing the full remarks that I prepared for my conversation with Dr. Cannon. I hope these brief meditations on Bonhoeffer’s wisdom help expand your vision of God in our world and embolden your courage to resist dehumanization in our time... Read More

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Donation = Appreciation

Do you enjoy Stop & Think? Become a Sustaining Patron with a monthly donation and invest in my work around the world. Gifts are tax-deductible through the Institute for Faith and Flourishing. Yours with gratitude, Andrew

Sign Up for the Newsletter


My deepest passion is encouraging others in love. As you stop and think with me, I hope you feel more at home in your humanity, less lonely in what you believe, and fresh courage to love others beyond boundaries. Thanks for reading!

Coming Soon

Blessed Are the Others

Blessed Are the Others: Jesus’ Way in a Violent World by Andrew DeCort is a guide that navigates the teachings of Jesus through the lens of the Beatitudes. It offers a trail to a more fulfilling life through vulnerability, compassion, nonviolence, justice, and peacemaking, challenging conventional understandings of religious blessings and prosperity.

View Book
Jon Guerra and Andrew DeCort discuss Blessed Are the Others and American Gospel with Comment Magazine and BitterSweet Collective

Launching Blessed Are the Others with Jon Guerra

Essays

Dear friends,

Has there been a special day in recent months when you felt deeply alive? Maybe you felt like yourself, known and loved as such, and surrounded by kindred spirits. I desire that for all of us.

I experienced that precious gift on February 13th this year in Washington, D.C.. There was joyful laughter from open hearts. There were vulnerable tears of honest grief. Throughout, there was an ambient presence of togetherness in hope amidst a disturbing time in America.

Andrew DeCort and Kate Schmidgall Launch Blessed Are the Others with Comment Magazine and BitterSweet Books

We gathered at Anne Snyder and David Brooks’ beautiful home near the Capitol. Our purpose was to launch my book Blessed Are the Others, to listen live to Jon and Val Guerra’s prophetic EP American Gospel, and to share searching conversation. With words, songs, and friends, we explored the way of Jesus in the heart of the American empire.

Jon Guerra and Andrew DeCort discuss Blessed Are the Others and American Gospel with Comment Magazine and BitterSweet Collective

Anne Snyder, editor-in-chief of Comment Magazine, warmly gathered us with words from the Prophet Jeremiah. Kate Schmidgall, my publisher at BitterSweet Collective, summoned us: “Welcome to the resistance.”.. Read More

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Donation = Appreciation

Do you enjoy Stop & Think? Become a Sustaining Patron with a monthly donation and invest in my work around the world. Gifts are tax-deductible through the Institute for Faith and Flourishing. Yours with gratitude, Andrew

Sign Up for the Newsletter


My deepest passion is encouraging others in love. As you stop and think with me, I hope you feel more at home in your humanity, less lonely in what you believe, and fresh courage to love others beyond boundaries. Thanks for reading!

Coming Soon

Blessed Are the Others

Blessed Are the Others: Jesus’ Way in a Violent World by Andrew DeCort is a guide that navigates the teachings of Jesus through the lens of the Beatitudes. It offers a trail to a more fulfilling life through vulnerability, compassion, nonviolence, justice, and peacemaking, challenging conventional understandings of religious blessings and prosperity.

View Book
Donald Trump addressing the National Prayer Breakfast 2025

My Speech at the National Prayer Breakfast: The Jesus We Haven’t Heard Yet

Essays

Dear friends,

On February 6th, I was generously invited to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC and then to speak at the Middle East Dinner later that night. My speech was titled “The Jesus We Haven’t Heard Yet.”

The positive response to my message encouraged me. It has been shared over a thousand times on Facebook and watched over 3,500 on YouTube. Afterward, the respected spiritual director, Bill Hailey, wrote on his Substack, “Grief and love certainly are shot through Andrew’s address at the NPB, which he offered with great humility. I believe [his words] were given by God for him to say. In this way, Andrew’s words at the NPB are not just prophetic, they are important to hear and heed.”

Donald Trump addressing the National Prayer Breakfast 2025

After the main event on Thursday morning, I wrote a very critical post about what I had observed there. Following tradition, the president was the guest of honor and gave the final speech, which was interrupted with applause 24 times... Read More

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Donation = Appreciation

Do you enjoy Stop & Think? Become a Sustaining Patron with a monthly donation and invest in my work around the world. Gifts are tax-deductible through the Institute for Faith and Flourishing. Yours with gratitude, Andrew

Sign Up for the Newsletter


My deepest passion is encouraging others in love. As you stop and think with me, I hope you feel more at home in your humanity, less lonely in what you believe, and fresh courage to love others beyond boundaries. Thanks for reading!

Coming Soon

Blessed Are the Others

Blessed Are the Others: Jesus’ Way in a Violent World by Andrew DeCort is a guide that navigates the teachings of Jesus through the lens of the Beatitudes. It offers a trail to a more fulfilling life through vulnerability, compassion, nonviolence, justice, and peacemaking, challenging conventional understandings of religious blessings and prosperity.

View Book

Mass Deportation and Neighbor Love

Essays

Dear friends,

The man began to cry as he told me his story. I had known him for many years, but this was the first time I saw tears stream down his face. 

He grew up in a rural town where there was no sustainable work. Because of his family’s poverty, his dad left home and became a traveling construction worker.

It was a bittersweet survival. On the one hand, his dad made a little money and helped the family eat. But on the other, they were growing up without a father.

Eventually but unsurprisingly, his dad got badly injured on a job site. He tried to continue, but the construction company provided no medical insurance. It treated him and the other workers as throwaways.

His broken body could no longer do the heavy work, and he had no choice. He returned home to his impoverished family — injured, empty-handed, and humiliated. 

But his dad was devoted to his family and continued fighting for their survival... Read More

  • Share post

Donation = Appreciation

Do you enjoy Stop & Think? Become a Sustaining Patron with a monthly donation and invest in my work around the world. Gifts are tax-deductible through the Institute for Faith and Flourishing. Yours with gratitude, Andrew

Sign Up for the Newsletter


My deepest passion is encouraging others in love. As you stop and think with me, I hope you feel more at home in your humanity, less lonely in what you believe, and fresh courage to love others beyond boundaries. Thanks for reading!

Coming Soon

Blessed Are the Others

Blessed Are the Others: Jesus’ Way in a Violent World by Andrew DeCort is a guide that navigates the teachings of Jesus through the lens of the Beatitudes. It offers a trail to a more fulfilling life through vulnerability, compassion, nonviolence, justice, and peacemaking, challenging conventional understandings of religious blessings and prosperity.

View Book