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

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 80^th 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

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.

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.

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

Dear friends,

On February 6^th, 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.”

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

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