Tom Adams
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Editor’s Note: Last week I wrote about the need for spiritual practices to anchor us in these unsettling and oppressive times. This week’s post is by guest contributor Shirin McAuthor and focuses on lessons from Holy Week for Christians and others relevant to today. Shirin is a writer, editor and spiritual guide.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a powerful force for good in the US and around the world. Over the years, I’ve known and worked with many people whose lives have been positively transformed through their involvement with AA and other addiction recovery movements.
A couple of months ago, I listened online to a talk by professor Kevin Carnahan about Christian Realism. It’s a perspective I hadn’t encountered before, at least not in these terms. I thought I would share some of my thoughts about it here in case you might find the connections I’m making helpful.
The Whitney Museum in southern Louisiana focuses extensively on the experience of enslaved people rather than glorifying the slave-owning “masters.” In this post, I want to share some of what my husband Henry and I learned from our tour guide about the experience for the enslaved community at this one of over 46,300 US plantations that were in existence in 1860.
Have you encountered the term “spaghetti lots” before? It’s a phrase I heard growing up in the North Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It doesn’t refer to an abundance of pasta, but to the shape of land plots along the Rio Grande River (shown above), which runs like a backbone down the center of the state.
I recently had a conversation about the idea and ideal of unconditional love. Someone was struggling with whether they would ever experience truly unconditional love. Reflecting on a series of challenged personal relationships, this person was feeling despair and wondering if they were irrevocably broken. I found myself considering our cultural conditioning and proposed that perhaps the problem was with American cultural assumptions rather than individual brokenness.
Two weeks ago, I reflected on a Critical Conversation post that got me thinking about my role in addressing racial inequity in America today. In this follow-up post, I want to share another element of the teaching that stood out for me: the differences between being an ally, an accomplice, and a savior.
A couple weeks ago, I read a blog post that linked to another that got me thinking in new ways about my role in making change in America today. The blog post I initially read included this sentence: “When black people are in pain, white people just join book clubs.”
Contemplation. As a faithful Christian in a world where the politicized face of Christianity doesn’t always reflect my viewpoint, I seek to publicly share the values I hold dear as a follower of Christ. In this post, I want to share some reflections on what I consider the fundamental basis for my Christian faith: love.
Tom Adams writes and speaks on topics vital to the intersection of our personal lives with our community and global lives. He has for decades been engaged in and written about nonprofit leadership and transitions, spirituality and spiritual growth, how we each contribute to a more just and equitable world and recovery from addictions and the Twelve Step recovery movement.