This sermon by Vernon Johns is the first published sermon by an African American preacher to appear in Joseph Fort Newton’s “The Best Sermons of the Year,” in 1926. In this sermon, Johns challenges the listener to embrace truth and use that truth as a tool for liberation and leadership.
Month: February 2021
Practicing Who We Are
Mark Labberton
We hope for the promised land, but what does it mean to live as strangers in a strange land? Labberton opens up the book of Daniel that is instructive for us as we face the “gritty challenges” of a place that looks more like exile than promise. We are called to remember — and practice — who we are, even amidst other forces that seek to shape who we are.
True Yieldedness and the Christian Community of Goods
Peter Walpot
In this 1577 piece by Peter Walpot, we see one of the hallmarks of Anabaptist practice, economic sharing. Economic sharing here is more than simply imitation of the apostolic practice, as seen in Acts 2 and Acts 4, but a spiritual therapy designed to counter the spiritual evils of greed and consumerism.
Homily at the U.S. Capitol Mall
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II delivers a homily marked by a steadfast commitment to christian virtues like courage and hope in the face of cynicism and false narratives which undermine the dignity of the human person and the good of society. His sermon speaks boldly and with confidence in the good news of the Word of God and the hope that the Christians have to offer society in a life joyfully lived for Christ.
Taking It Outside
John Clair
Suddenly it seems everyone would rather simply “take it outside.” We saw these images in almost every city and town in America. Images of violence in exchange or action, splattered across the national news in waves not seen in decades. A key job of the police, and one that other citizens are less well-equipped to do, is to do what people don’t have the time or temperament or training to do when they are in a mood to take it outside. That is to find out what actually happened: to investigate.
Pressing Pause
Susannah Black
Dear Friends, Yesterday, we screened The Reunited States, a new film that engages many of the questions that we’ve been wrestling with here at Breaking Ground: Does a common life require a suppression of debate and difference, or can we find a way to join in some kind...
Mary’s Magnificat and Justice
Dorothy Yoder Nyce
This sermon, exploring Mary’s words in Luke 1:46-56, comes from the collection Weaving Wisdom: Sermons by Mennonite Women, (1983) ed. Dorothy Yoder Nyce.
Snow Days and Slack
Leah Libresco Sargeant
A snow day is meant not just for sledding and snowmen, but as a rebuke of the belief that the world answers to our commands. A snow day is training for the mercy we must be prepared to extend in ordinary times.
Irreplaceable
J. Daniel Sims
“Don’t forget. Everyone is replaceable.” I was seventeen the first time I heard those words. My teenage ego had swollen predictably as the weekend shift (scrubbing grease off floor-mats at the local deli) transitioned into something a bit more dignified. Promotions...
Making and Keeping Peace
The VII Foundation
To make progress towards peace, you have to build trust by going onto the other side’s turf rather than demanding that they come to meet you in grand government buildings. Shared risks can foster a bond. Experience suggests that two factors need to be in place...