By Robyn Hyden At Alabama Arise, as in The Episcopal Church, we value agape love. We strive to practice unconditional love, and through this, we envision a world where all people live with concern for the common good and respect for the humanity of every person.   These values lead us to tackle what we see…

By Glenna Huber As an undergraduate, I volunteered in a community-based, after-school program for young children run by The Episcopal Church. The kids came from all over the neighborhood to enjoy tutoring, arts and crafts, and a safe place to play until they were picked up in the early evening. It was here, attending organizing…

By The Rev. Meg Wagner In 2019, Beloved Community Initiative—a mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa—received Becoming Beloved Community grant funding to begin an Ethnic Studies Leadership Academy. We envisioned a culturally responsive program for African and African American girls in seventh through ninth grades to learn about equity from the lens of African…

By Mark Smith While St. Paul’s Episcopal Church has been serving the homeless and marginalized neighbors in downtown Camden, New Jersey, for four decades, the COVID pandemic represented a particular challenge for us and our guests, who are disproportionately people of color. As in most other churches, in-person worship had ended and our adventure with…

By Aisha Heurtas In my lifelong Christian journey, I have at times been disappointed with the church. I see injustices in the world—senseless violence, racism, gender discrimination, bigotry, poverty, hunger, and more. It would be easy to get lost in the ways in which we, the church and its people, have been complicit. It is true…

By Christina Pacheco Today, one would be hard-pressed to turn on the TV or radio or open social media and not hear about worldwide wars and struggles. The 24-hour news cycle and technological enhancements let us witness these wars and their destruction from the comfort of our own, often safe, homes. Yet, many Americans bristle…

By Shaneequa Brokenleg, staff officer for racial reconciliation Summer is upon us, and the whirlwind of General Convention is over. Every three years, we—bishops, clergy, lay delegates, staff, exhibitors, and observers—meet as a church, and this was my first time experiencing it in a formal way. The Union of Black Episcopalians’ meeting and conference was a great way…

By the Rev. Melanie Mullen What does love mean to you? “Love is what justice looks like in public,” and seeing Episcopalians doing ministry of repairing the breach and proclaiming the dream of God’s Kingdom on Earth showed me how true that phrase is.  Where did you see God in this festival?  I saw God…

By Shaneequa Brokenleg At the end of January, I was able to attend Winter Talk, a gathering of Indigenous Episcopalians and folks serving in Indigenous ministry. In this sacred space, we were able to gather as people who are sometimes overlooked by the world…but never by God. As we listened and learned, I was reminded of…

By Joe McDaniel Jr. Commemorating the Selma March across the Edmund Pettus Bridge holds immense significance as it stands as a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. This event, which took place in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965, was a turning point in the struggle for African American voting…