Blog Archive
Contemplating the messiness of Christian life
The Messy Jesus Business Blog is an ecumenical Christian gathering of musings about what it means to live the Gospel today. A variety of contributors offer prayer, poetry, book reviews, creative nonfiction and prose about what it means to live a life of faith in our complex, modern times.
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The little way today
My three-year-old daughter, JoyAna, loves the garden. She walks around smelling flowers, searching for worms and almost indiscriminately exclaiming, “Whoa, daddy, this is amazing.” Last week she got a hold of a red and yellow zinnia and, with all the free-spiritedness of an exuberant toddler, ran up and down the sidewalk unpetalling and tossing the
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Democracy is collapsing, but let’s imagine how the church could change that
I was in another Zoom meeting with my friend, another Catholic sister who is a professor on a college campus. Together we were lamenting the extreme polarities in the church and society. Rubbing our foreheads. Sighing. Praying right out loud: God, help us. Together we were bemoaning how the tensions impact our freedom to love
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Ellen Walsh-Rosmann: Feeding the Hungry during COVID
In episode ten, Sister Julia speaks with Ellen Walsh-Rosmann, a farmer, a Food Service director in a rural school district, and an owner of food hub and a farm-to-table restaurant. They discussed the systemic challenges of feeding the hungry during the COVID19 pandemic and how the ordinary person can eat in a way that helps…
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On the good days
On the good days, I am conscious of the discoveries. This life under COVID-19 has been full of new and beautiful discoveries, both inner and outer. I recently read that while our outings to restaurants, shopping malls and amusement parks have all decreased dramatically, our visits to public parks has increased exponentially. This is certainly
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Embracing diversity and building community
We’re looking for a team of energized Messy Jesus Business Podcast listeners and blog readers to join our community of Rabble Rousers. The building of God’s reign of peace and justice needs you! We welcome all people into the community as we explore the margins and celebrate the goodness.
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‘Sister Act’ put me on a path to finding my own voice
“Sister Act,” which came out in 1992, has been part of the soundtrack to my life since I first watched the film, when I was around 11 or 12 years old.
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Lay down the weapon of good intention
A few years ago, my partner and I were invited to speak with a small group of white Catholic North Americans visiting Bolivia. My partner, from Bolivia, was asked to speak briefly with the group about Andean spirituality, and I was asked to translate his words from Spanish to English. (I am sharing this story
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Freedom songs
Selma has been on my mind lately. With the passing of John Lewis, my social media feed has been flooded with photos of him standing at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, stories of his constant bravery and even videos of him dancing or crowd surfing. We have lost a legend. And my mind
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10 summer reads from our archives for the heat and these hard times
Here are 10 summer reads from the Messy Jesus Business archives that could fuel your fires, ignite your actions, inform your choices. These words could companion you in the summer heat and during these hard times.
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Lament and hope go hand in hand
“Say her name!” I yelled, and the crowds roared back: “Breonna Taylor!” After days of protests of the death of George Floyd around the country, I had a gnawing feeling inside that yet again, a Black woman had been relegated to the bottom of the pile in the fight for social justice. So I was excited
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Sorrow and Joy during the Black Lives Matter movement
In the June burst of green and sunshine, I am taking a bike ride through the historically black neighborhood where I live in Chicago. Along the way, I encounter a heron and a flock of geese; I see wrappers and plastic bags littering the sidewalks, discarded in the gutters. I smell freshly-cut grass and wave
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Lessons learned in liminal spaces
this is the space of chrysalis– of break-downs & becoming something something better something more true (we hope, we imagine) this is the crazy time (some say) this is what they warned us about: “remember, you are more prone to accidents and illness. remember to breathe.” no maps are available no one has been here
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