David W. Swanson's (Occasional) Newsletter
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The Barrier of Status
March 19, 2022
Today I'm featuring an excerpt from Amy Julia Becker's new book, To Be Made Well: An Invitation to Wholeness, Healing, and Hope. I got to read a early...
Accepting Our Creatureliness
March 12, 2022
Is watching, scrolling, and sharing the best we can do in response to yet another televised war? I want the act of watching a war unfold on the other side of...
Cynicism is not Inevitable
February 25, 2022
A sermon about the truth which abides, even in our cynical age. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my...
Compassion Isn't Enough
February 5, 2022
Thinking with James Cone about the fickle nature of white compassion and about a deeper and stronger alternative. In an article published twenty-two years...
Grieving a Demographic Decrease
January 29, 2022
Can we give white people the space to grieve? Should we? On Friday I got to facilitate a conversation between six ministry colleagues from around the country...
Insurrection, Idolatry, and an Invitation to Risky Discipleship
January 6, 2022
A call for the church to respond courageously to insurrection and idolatry. In the days following the January 6 insurrection, a lot of us tried to make sense...
My Year With Books
December 31, 2021
Making it through a long year with the help of some good books. How long is a year? A few days ago our oldest son counted off the few remaining days until...
The Radicals
December 18, 2021
On rejecting the radical life for one of harmony. In Richard Powers' beautiful novel The Overstory we are introduced to a group of very different people...
Life Below the Surface
December 4, 2021
We need good pastors who will show us the way to the abundant, non-utilitarian way of life. Once or twice each year our family makes the eight-hour drive...
Having Better Conversations About Race
November 20, 2021
A climate scientist prepares us for hard conversations about racial justice... just in time for those awkward holiday gatherings. The best book about racial...
Can you lead where you've not been? I sure hope so!
October 23, 2021
It's officially fall here in Chicago. I know this because a couple of days ago I roasted and blended a bunch of pumpkins for pies and soups - pumpkin and...
Know Your Divisions
October 2, 2021
Yesterday afternoon I was talking with a couple of friends who both serve churches in small Midwestern towns. They are thoughtful and humble leaders in their...
Deliver Me From Fear of Their Fear
September 18, 2021
Today I'm wrestling with a tension common to racial justice work: it is possible to tell the truth to white people? But first.. Next week I'll run the Race...
Do you know your trees?
August 28, 2021
I finished reading a new book about trees on a day this week when the news around the world was once again overwhelming and terrible. In Afghanistan people...
Leveraging Privilege to Create Systemic Change
August 21, 2021
This week's newsletter features an excerpt from my friend Dominique Gilliard's new book. But first... Earlier this summer I got to spend some time in NYC...
"...a reproach before God and the world."
July 2, 2021
There is a strange warning being passed around these days and I expect, with Independence Day coming up, its urgency will be heightened. It comes in...
There is Freedom: A Sermon for Juneteenth
June 19, 2021
Today, June 19th, is Juneteenth, a holiday our church has incorporated into our Sunday worship for the past few years. This is a lightly edited version of my...
When the Colonizer is One of Your Own
June 12, 2021
In this week’s newsletter I’m delighted to feature the following reflection by Dr. Suzie Sang. Dr. Sang responded to my recent social media post - “Beware...
Singing in the Dark
June 5, 2021
Johnny Dark At some point each day, having listened to the same song most of the day, Johnny Dark takes out his phone, points it toward a mirror in his...
CRT: Enough Already!
May 15, 2021
I can predict when it will happen. During the past twelve months, I’ve been invited to more online Q & A sessions than I can remember with groups around the...
Who gets to determine the ideal?
May 1, 2021
Earlier this week I posted the following reflection on social media. It provoked enough responses there that I thought it might be worth sharing here as...
Lamenting and Praising
April 24, 2021
Like most of you, I was paying close attention earlier this week to the verdict in the trial for the man who murdered George Floyd. Also like many of you, I...
The God Who Sees
March 28, 2021
In this week’s newsletter I’m sharing a lightly edited version of my sermon today from Genesis 16. There’s something powerful about being seen. This is...
Leaving the White Church for What?
March 20, 2021
Last week I listened to a powerful episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Pass the Mic, hosted by Jemar Tisby and Tyler Burns. In it, Tisby describes his...
Worship → Justice → Worship
March 13, 2021
Last week I shared ten characteristics of biblical justice. (If you're interested, I expanded the the list into an article for Missio Alliance.) Of those...
10 Characteristics of Biblical Justice
March 6, 2021
This week I spoke (online) at a church in California. They had assigned me the topic of biblical justice which ended up being a good excuse to think about...
Unexceptional in Exile
February 27, 2021
One of the things about being in a wilderness or exile situation is that you really want to believe you’re not. Maybe this is what made the recently...
Manifest Destiny and Black Faith
February 21, 2021
Not long ago I noticed how often over the past few years I’ve been returning to the biblical themes of wilderness and exile. There’s a lot to say about these...
Terror, Trauma, and Better Questions
January 17, 2021
Last week Ed Stetzer, director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, was interviewed by NPR about the white evangelical presence at the U.S. Capitol...
My Year With Books
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year everyone! Click here for a version of this newsletter with links to each of the books I mention below. I wish I could remember what I was...
Christianity ≠ White Supremacy
December 19, 2020
Earlier this week I finished Vince L. Bantu’s new book about the global nature of early Christianity, A Multitude of All Peoples. It’s a fascinating look at...
Diplomacy Doesn't Work
November 21, 2020
During our ministry staff devotions this week we ended up talking about what our Christian responsibility is to those in positions of power whose attitudes...
Hoping in Herod: An Election Day Lament
November 3, 2020
On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a...
Loving Opposition
October 24, 2020
On Wednesday, two weeks prior to the election, our church began two weeks of prayer and fasting. For a template we are using a list of 10 commitments that...
Your vote matters less than you think. But also, way more.
October 10, 2020
No matter who wins the election, God is still sovereign! How many versions of this sentiment have you heard expressed during an election cycle? In my...
Local Countercultures of Reconciliation and Justice
October 3, 2020
I’ve recently been listening to “Motive”, a podcast produced by our local NPR station about the rise of of neo-Nazi skinheads in Chicago and beyond in the...
The Truth of the Protest
September 26, 2020
Why is it that you can know how terribly something will turn out and still be devastated when it does? This is what I was wondering on Wednesday afternoon...
Acknowledgment is better than ignorance. Confession is even better.
September 19, 2020
A quick appeal before getting to the rest of the newsletter: One of the hats I wear is that of CEO of New Community Outreach, a nonprofit launched by our...
New books about racial justice. Also, Bob the Tomato.
September 12, 2020
It's been nice to take a month-long breather from the newsletter but I've missed it and it's good to be back! There are a lot of good books related to race...
White Evangelical Reflexes
August 8, 2020
Our family is taking some time away this week so the newsletter is a bit spares, though I’ve linked to a few things below that I hope you’ll find helpful....
Justice and Joy
August 1, 2020
In the days after Rep. John Lewis passed away, among the many tributes and remembrances, I stumbled onto this short video of the congressman dancing. He’s...
White fragility is spiritual immaturity
July 18, 2020
Here's a confession: I haven't read White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. Over the past couple of years, conversation partners have sometimes assumed that I've...
Why this time might be different.
July 11, 2020
I spent this week with my family in Wisconsin, mostly unplugged. One afternoon we visited a small bookshop in downtown Woodstock, IL, just across the border....
What do we celebrate today?
July 4, 2020
For this July 4th weekend I’m linking to four timely articles and one video. Given the events of the past couple of months, it’s appropriate to reflect on...
Can white Jesus be saved?
June 27, 2020
This week, in my little corner of the Internet, some people were wringing their hands about white Jesus. As statues and monuments to the Confederacy are...
The (un)importance of cross-racial friendships.
June 20, 2020
Before getting to this week's essay, I've got a request. This coming week is my birthday and I'm using it as an excuse to raise money for the non-profit I...
On living counter to this racist culture assisted by the saints, including one or two white ones.
June 13, 2020
What do you imagine when you hear racial segregation? I think many of us imagine the Civil Rights Movement. Maybe we think about a time when housing...
How brave will we be?
June 6, 2020
It’s Saturday evening. It’s been a hell of a week. A hellish week. From within a pandemic, the country has exploded, sparked by the murders of Ahmaud Arbery,...
Covering Our Nakedness With Lament
May 30, 2020
In his little book about race, The Hidden Wound, Wendell Berry grapples with his history as a member of a southern land-owning family and how his racial...
Reframing Race
May 23, 2020
A few months ago I began planning the book launch for Rediscipling the White Church. With help from some amazing church members, we'd planned on a...
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