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My crumbling castle is perched on a hill. Hidden from the road by long ago planted climbing roses, I sit silent sentinel on a rusty bench, this time of year looking down into beds of pickup trucks full of planks and plants, repair for old things, beginnings of new ..read more

Six churches are among 39 projects being awarded grants from the National Park Service to preserve historical examples of the civil rights activism of Black people in the United States ..read more

On May 2, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all of Africa ordained in Zimbabwe the first deaconess of any patriarchate in the global Eastern Orthodox Church, marking the culmination of years of efforts to revive the female diaconate ..read more

In the culminating moment of the film Contact (1997), Ellie Arroway (played by Jodi Foster), having been selected as a representative of humanity to make first contact with alien life, finds herself viewing a celestial event as she travels through space. Trying to elaborate on the sight, in awe she stammers, “No words to describe it. Poetry! They should have sent a poet ..read more

A Toni Morrison character once ate blackberries “so good and happy that to eat them was like being in church. Just one of the berries and you felt anointed.” I remember the first time I read that line, a spark of recognition shot through me. The inverse is true for me as well. Sometimes being in church makes me so good and happy that it’s like eating perfectly ripe and sweet blackberries ..read more

The United Methodist Church’s condemnation of homosexuality—which sparked a half-century of conflict—is now no more. By a vote of 523 to 161 after about an hour and a half of debate, general conference delegates eliminated on Thursday the 52-year-old assertion in the denomination’s Social Principles that “the practice of homosexuality . . . is incompatible with Christian teaching ..read more

To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century ..read more

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