What follows was inspired by a few things. One, words of Christian theologian Willie Jennings spoken soon after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor: Jennings’ observations on anger and God surprised me and further illuminated my own long struggle with a grieving outrage that sometimes feels debilitating. He also gave me permission to feel my anger as part […]

Please sign and consider reposting in social media this link:https://www.change.org/NoMoreSheridanRoad Sheridan Road in Chicago is named after General Philip Sheridan, whose career included time here during the Chicago Fire and fighting for the Union during the Civil War but was rooted in the so-called “Indian Wars” of the Great Plains. 150 years ago, on Jan 23 1870, he directed Major […]

Except the Names It’s a dangerous thing, cannibalizing another’s life for one’s own purposes. It’s done all the time. I hold the sign naming the dead black man as protest, in protest. Yet I am enthused, energized, and (must I say this?) enjoying myself. Something isn’t in sync. And then, looking around at the other signs, the other namesI imagine […]

So this morning my conscience sez to me… In our struggles against Trumpagelicalism, let’s pause a sec. You feel betrayal, yes. You feel wounded. You, at your best, feel anger and even rage at what is being done to your immigrant, POC, poor, and other neighbors by Trumpagelicals. You’re dismayed continually at the corporate takeover of science and environment by […]

An Uprush of Emotion is usually the way I (and I suspect you?) identify meaning. Good or bad. Admitting this may be both difficult and more ambiguous an admission than it appears. An Evangelical such as John Piper might negatively (and emotionally) assign emotion/meaning linkages to his term “effeminacy,” a fascinating reality distortion in both its anti-womanist and self-blinding qualities. […]

“What does community mean to you?” A self-inquiry by Jon Trott, offered as a message at JPUSA Church 04/23/2018 What does community mean to you? Every one of us has our own list of answers to this question. Not all of those answers are “spiritual” sounding. Not all of us agree on even the questions. But still… what does community […]

January 16, 1977, my nineteen-year-old self joined Jesus People USA. To celebrate my “fortieth anniversary” as a communard Jesus Freak, I offer forty quite random ideas about community. Some are general. Some are specific. Some are a sentence. Others take a fairly beefy paragraph. So…. Forty Random Thoughts on Community from a Forty-year member of Jesus People USA 1. Love […]

I’m cameraman and video editor, neither job being my primary skill set, in this Glenn Kaiser interview of activist prison lawyer Alan Mills. Both men are my friends, and both forgive me. Bonus: music written by Glenn and myself (lyrics) at the tail end. More information about Alan’s organization, Uptown People’s Law Center. And, to visit Glenn Kaiser‘s site. The […]

Jonathan David Brown, grammy-nominated (twice) Christian music producer, died suddenly September 27, 2016, of an apparent heart attack. He was sixty years old. His face book pages (this and this) and a gofundme page are filling with condolences from some of the many well-known artists he worked with creatively. But his death also brings into focus a tangled, extremist legacy of […]