Sin shall have no dominion

Greg Paul sees a man’s man’s man’s world…

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hat’s what James Brown used to holler, and there’s no denying it down here where Doug and I walk out a pleasant April midnight. The air has a soft, faint humidity that forecasts the summer; Allen Gardens [in downtown Toronto, Canada] and the dark cut of George Street leading south are alive with furtive shadows, muttering voices, and the occasional distant bark of laughter that seems to bear more menace than delight.

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Jesus as Superhero

Kalyn Falk on why spandex sells better than ashes

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hen I was growing up, I was transfixed by Superheroes like Superman, Wonder Woman and the perhaps not heroic but certainly superhuman Charlie’s Angels. What I liked about them was how shiny and competent they were. No matter how desperate the situation, they would always be able to save the good guys and let the bad guys receive their just desserts.

It was comforting to watch these shows because you knew it would all work out in the end and, no matter how perilous things seemed for the hero, they would emerge unscarred without a hair out of place. So when I started hearing about Jesus saving me, I assumed that he would fit into the same sort of paradigm, maybe King of the Superheroes.

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Street-level Justice

Governing metropolitan public space

Jonathan Chaplin examines the concrete, institutional challenges of “street-level justice” - or, more precisely, “metropolitan public justice”: the doing of justice within the public spaces of our alluring, heaving, problem-ridden urban communities.

What does justice have to do with it?

“Justice?” some might reply. “What have bus purchases, or garbage collection, or zoning laws, got to do with lofty principles like justice? Just give me a bit more efficiency and I’ll go quietly.” Of course we’d all like our cities to be run more efficiently. But issues of efficiency can’t be neatly cordoned off from issues of distribution (of jobs for disadvantaged immigrants, or affordable housing for those on low incomes); of access (to public buildings, for the disabled); of sustainability (for our threatened urban landscapes and eco-systems); of opportunity (for budding entrepreneurs thwarted by punishing property taxes); of voice (for alienated electors - that’s plenty of you); or of security (for the silenced communities of the victims of a different kind of “street-level justice” currently being brutally meted out by gun gangs in some urban areas).

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Cultural Competency and The Salvation Army

Sharon Jones-Ryan asks if it’s an oxymoron

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erms like cultural competence, diversity, and affirmative action have become commonplace in the human resources field: an initial query on Google for “cultural competency” yielded 23,300 hits, affirmative action 1,210,000. It is vital for leadership in any organization, especially those in human resources, to familiarize themselves with the issues incumbent in these terms. Yet a unique challenge exists for faith-based organizations (FBOs) when beginning an exploration into the issues of diversity and cultural competence. The cornerstone of a FBO’s identity, its faith, yields the de-facto reality of non-diversity within its ranks. › Continue reading

Compromise

Jim Read on the ambiguous embrace

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can understand why Time Warner would partner with AOL. New markets. Bigger profits. These are the engines that drive business. But why would an organization such as The Salvation Army, driven by values not profits, get into “partnering”? › Continue reading

The Body of Christ: she’s a dime

Mark Braye explores the idea of church

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n his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote: “…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27 NRSV).

“S/he’s a dime” is an expression describing a member of the opposite sex as a “perfect 10!” when it comes to physical attractiveness. Paraphrasing the above passage from Ephesians, Paul is saying the Body of Christ is a “dime!” (From Christ’s perspective and because of what He did, that is. On our own, we’re about a 0.4.)

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The sleeping friends

Vadim Khurin on the need for friends

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t’s just over a month since Easter, and I’ve read and reread the description of the last weeks and days in the life of Jesus - what He accomplished, what He spoke about, where He went. For when a man knows that his days on earth are limited, he takes advantage of the remaining time and makes the most of his opportunities. › Continue reading

Outsider journeys into the SA

Lee Stiles refers to himself as an “outsider” because he’s not a Salvationist and, in his words: “I am not a church-going person.”

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fter twenty-one years on The Salvation Army advisory board in King County, Washington, USA,  I went to work full-time in the development department of the Northwest Division in September 2005. As a result of my board service, I assumed an easy transition, but to my amazement, it has involved a steep learning curve. From the inside, I see that this Army marches to its own, special drumbeat.

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The Second Breath

When you feel like giving up | Vadim Khurin

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ecently I started attending the gym again. I say “again” because when I was younger, I was a very active sportsman. But that was a very long time ago.

I entered the gym and I felt as if I had gone 10 – 12 years back in time. I saw a lot of people who came to the gym in order to change. Different people. Some beautiful, some not so beautiful. Some athletic, some that look like “donuts.” Some that are persistent, some that are lazy. But all came with one purpose in mind: to change. I immersed myself in the depth of my memory, recalling my intensive workouts and how wonderful they were. I had forgotten them in the many years that had passed. › Continue reading

Refugee Jesus & a new Salvation Army

Areopagus #19

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f you care about The Salvation Army; if deep down inside you know things have to change but feel inarticulate - as everyone does at the start of any revolution - and unable to say how or why… then take a “terrifying” half-an-hour to listen to Russell Rook from the 2004 Roots South event in Atlanta, USA. Rook, the director of ALOVE, finds a deep and transforming message for today’s Army in the ancient story of the holy family’s flight to Egypt after the word became flesh in Bethlehem. And just as that birth brought dramatic, gut-wrenching changes, so too is God bringing something new to birth in The Salvation Army. Don’t miss this 35:40 presentation - click on the arrow below to listen now or click here to go to our Areopagus podcast where this episode can be downloaded.