Power Differential in the Context of Poverty in Haiti – by Steve and Nancy James

We both grew up as missionary kids in Burma/Myanmar where our friends were Burmese/Karen kids, so we were very conscious of not being like our friends.  Every day, we wished that we had brown skin and black hair and that we were not white foreigners. Although our childhood in Burma/Myanmar

Look Again – by Rev. Jonathan Betts Fields

It is essential that we notice how we have been changed and how we have worked to change ourselves if we are to truly become anti-racists building the Beloved Community. If we want to change our world, we first must live, move and become the change we wish to see. 

Be the Change – by Julie Bradley

After attending Agape’s October 2020 Zoom Francis Day event, I felt a sense illumination. Agape Community stepped up to the challenge of racism, showing its members’ level of commitment and involvement in all areas of struggle within humanity. This event brought me a sense of hope that in the future

The Dream of Allyship – by Edgar Hayes

There is a classic story about a hypothetical dream conveyed to a psychiatrist in which a runner tries to catch up in a race of 401 laps. The runner keeps being held back from completing the race by one obstacle after another, until a merged path appears when “a huge

God’s Peace Heals All Divisions: An Election Year Vigil – by Jim Robinson

Throughout the fall, we at Agape have been reading Pope Francis’s recently released encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, as part of our noonday prayer. Before eating lunch together, we gather in the living room of St. Francis House and read an excerpt from the encyclical. We sit with the impact of Pope

Finding a New Way of Being – by Dixon George

At different points in my life I’ve found myself reflecting on where I have come from, where I am now, and where I am going.  The answers that I get from prayer, meditation and conversations with people in my community are that I come from ten years of the experience of the

Climate Change and Covid Are Telling Us: Go Vegan – By Katya Renée Freitas

Like many people, Covid has drastically changed both my internal and external world. I was only about a month and a half into my last semester of college at Hofstra University when the virus first hit. In an instant, my college career seemed to be ending, giving me no time

The Harmonizing Power of Dialogue – by Steve Tumolo

Joe Biden wins But God’s peace steals our attention The people and the woods of Agape Invite us to be still. One in a hut, one in a hermitage, Our stay is too brief. Yet even a pause in the woods Can heighten our capacity to hear. The healing power

Notes on Books by our Friends

The Risk of the Cross by Art Laffin We at Agape have been reading the new edition of The Risk of the Cross: Living Gospel Nonviolence in the Nuclear Age, by longtime friend Art Laffin. The Risk of the Cross is a powerful resource for communities committed to attuning to

The Splendor of Now – poem by Barry Winkelman

Surrender to the splendor of the now Surround yourself with love’s serenity Suspend disbelief just for the moment Find peace within the chapel of your heart Part the narrow furrow of your thinking Seeding the same row every spring season Sow a different plot of untilled land Tie a bow