Tom Adams
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After the launch of my new story collection, Universally Adored and Other One Dollar Stories (published by Vine Leaves Press), my friend and fellow writer Tom Adams invited me to submit a guest blog post for Critical Conversations, and I thought I should focus on hope.
Nature and the faiths of the world all take delight in springtime. Today I’d like to share some reflections on how faith deepens and widens my ability to see and participate in the rituals of spring and thereby deepen my desire to love.
Editor’s Note: This week’s guest author courageously raises a challenging question for white Christians particularly and for all others committed to a world based on love and justice. My friend, anti-racist educator and activist A. Adar Ayira, decries the lack of response to the widespread Christian support for Donald Trump and his racist, oppressive policies. Adar is a founding member of Baltimore Racial Justice Action and the founder of Ayira Core Concepts LLC. Adar and her colleague Rebecca Pobee will join Racial Justice Conversations on Wednesday, May 1 at 5pm eastern time on Zoom to discuss this blog. For info on this session and the Zoom link, email me at [email protected].
Human life is a precious gift, beautiful and sacred. The very air sings the vibrancy of humanity– the cooing of a baby, the laughter of children, shared conversations, different cultures, and the worth of each person. Supporting the value and sanctity of life is paramount to the moral and spiritual health of a nation. But what constitutes life? Whom do we value and whom do we discard? Currently, in our culture, there are two divergent ideas of the sanctity, and the importance of life. We are living a spectrum, where on one end is the life of a woman, her needs and her right to choose whether or not she can support a pregnancy, and on the other end is the right of an unborn child to live.
Editor’s Note: This week’s post focuses on a recently released document of the Catholic Church which continues a pattern of claiming to respect all human life and then disrespecting and condemning some people through its teachings and their interpretations. I am sharing the statement of Frank DeBernardo in response to this recent document, particularly as it applies to transgender people. Frank’s message is a simple and direct one that emphasizes love and respect for all. This lesson has broad application for all of us – as individuals and as institutions. Frank, and I concur, finds it hard to accept any Church taking positions that preach love and respect for all and then uses out-of-date science and theology that disrespect and harm people. Frank’s message below provides practical lessons for all. There is an irony that the Vatican issued this statement on Monday, April 8 the day after proclaiming the preceding Sunday Mercy Sunday, a celebration of the always-available mercy and forgiveness of God.
Spring is prime time for people of three major faith traditions – Muslims, Jews, and Christians. This week’s post explores my recent experience of Easter as a Christian in the larger context of these three faith traditions.
This week we celebrate the life of Lois Wilson on her birthday, March 4. Lois is a 20th-century leader and co-creator of the Twelve Step movement. Without her, the path to recovery for people with alcoholism and other addictions would be very different and perhaps wouldn’t exist at all. Given this, one might wonder why so few people know much about Lois.
Reflecting on one year ending and another beginning gets me thinking about the practice of courage. I am keenly aware of how easy it is to keep doing the same activities and how hard it is to change. It doesn’t really matter whether I enjoy or get benefits from a...
Every once in awhile I leave my tiny Island home and take a boat across a narrow channel of the Salish Sea to the City. I like to joke that in about 5 minutes time in the City I see more people than I am likely to see for perhaps a whole year on my Island home. It takes me a while to get accustomed to the sounds and to the speed at which life moves around and through me.
Yesterday, Christians celebrated Christmas, the birth of Jesus. As a Christian, for me, this means that the Creator chose to become human, and ultimately, our teacher and uniter.
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.