Flowers for Algernon and the Gospel of the Uncounted (Matthew 5:1-12)

That's what the Beatitudes are meant to do to us.

Not to make us feel noble about suffering, or teach us how to spiritualize oppression. But to form solidarity as a reflex. To make us the kind of people who stand up when cruelty shows up and starts pushing everybody around. The kind of people who refuse the empire's categories of real and not-real, worthy and not-worthy, counted and disposable.

It’s formation for resistance. Not resistance as a moment of drama, but resistance as a way of life. The Beatitudes aren't entrance requirements for heaven. They're a description of what it looks like when people start living as if God's reign is real ... right here, right now ... even when the empire keeps insisting it’s not.

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The Lamb Who Ends All Sacrifice (John 1:29-42)

Because the measure of our faithfulness isn't whether we see the domination system collapse in our lifetime. The measure is whether we tell the truth about the Lamb who's already ended it.

John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." He said it once. And two thousand years later, we're still saying it. Still pointing. Still witnessing. Still waiting for the fullness of what God’s already begun.

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The Eagle vs. The Dove (Matthew 3:13-17)

Jesus didn't start his ministry by going to the halls of power to make deals with the folks in charge. He went to a river where ordinary people were gathering, hungry for change but with no political clout to make it happen.

Jesus stood with them in the water. He got muddy with them. He submitted to the same baptism of repentance they were submitting to, even though tradition says he didn't need to repent of anything.

Why?

Because God's way into the world isn't from the top down. It's from the bottom up. It's from the margins in. It's Emmanuel, God with us, and the "us" isn't the people in the skyboxes, drinking complimentary champagne. It's the people in the cheap seats, drinking over-priced beer.

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When the Throne Room is a Refugee Tent (John 1:1-18)

John ends the prologue with this: "From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." Grace replacing grace. Wave after wave of divine generosity.

Not scarcity and competition for limited resources. Not "there's not enough to go around, so we have to hoard and protect." Grace upon grace. Abundance. Enough for everybody, especially those the people in charge say aren't worth feeding.

That's the economy of the tent. That's what happens when the throne room is among people who've lost everything, and God starts building community based on sharing, not accumulating.

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When Obedience Costs (Matthew 1:18-25)

I don't know what the coming year is going to hold. None of us do.

But I do know this: there'll be moments when the costs are rising, the pressure’s building, and somebody near us gets exposed, and we'll have a choice to make.

We can be righteous in a way that doesn't cost us anything. Or we can be righteous the way Joseph was righteous, which means stepping into the line of fire and attaching our names to the people the world would rather shame. And then trusting that Emmanuel is with us in exactly that place.

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Reading the Signs Luke 23.33-43

The church's job is painfully simple and painfully hard. We have to learn to read the signs differently. We have to stop treating the category “criminal” as if it tells us everything we need to know about a person.

We have to stop assuming the people with microphones are the ones whose authority matters most.

We have to get suspicious of our own instinct to label people for our convenience. Because Jesus is a terrible respecter of society's signage.

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You don't have to join our church to partner in our justice work!

FAQ:

"What are you asking us to do?"

We're inviting people to partner with us in justice work—whether that's through monthly giving, through offering your time and skills, or both. Solidarity shows up in different ways, and we're trying to make it easier for people to be part of the work, however it makes sense for them.

"What if I can't afford to give money right now?"

Then don't. If you have sweat equity to offer (your time, presence, skills, creativity), we'd love that. Email us at douglassblvd@gmail.com and tell us what you'd like to contribute. Justice work needs both resources and people showing up.

"What do monthly financial partners get?"

Weekly newsletter emails that keep us informed about what DBCC is doing. That's it. No membership expectations, no committees, just partnership.

"How do I offer time/skills instead of money?"

Email us at douglassblvd@gmail.com and tell us what you'd like to offer. We'll connect you with opportunities as they emerge—whether that's showing up at specific actions, lending your skills to projects, or being present when the work calls for witnesses.

"Can I do both—give monthly and show up sometimes?"

Absolutely. Some people partner financially. Some people partner with their presence. Some do both. Whatever makes sense for you.

When Systems Treat People Like Fuel (Luke 20:27-38)

Remember: the cross is what happens when you tell the truth about power. But resurrection is God's answer to the cross. And we live between the two, in this time when the old age is dying and the new age is being born, and we have to decide which age we belong to.

We have to decide whether we're going to use people as props for our comfort or see them as children of God.

Whether we're going to accept a world where people are fuel for machines or build communities of resurrection.

Whether we're going to stay silent while fascism rises, or speak truth, practice resistance, and embody the reign of God right here, right now.

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Imposter Syndrome (Luke 6:20-31)

Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. Turn the other cheek. Give to everyone who begs. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

These aren't impossible riddles for religious overachievers. They're the habits of a people who know they've been welcomed while they were still a long way off. They're what belonging looks like in work boots.

If I know my life has been called blessed before I could prove anything, then I can stop guarding my worth like a secret.

I can risk forgiveness because I'm not paying for my seat at the table.

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Freedom That Doesn't Need a Patron (John 8:31-36)

But abiding teaches us a few stubborn questions: Does this freedom hold when the empire gets mad at us? Does it make more room at the table? Can it make it through Good Friday and still show up on Sunday?

Jesus' freedom can. It walked through death and came out holding the keys to the jail.

It taught Galilean fishermen to lay down nets and pick up neighbors.

It taught a tax collector to give the money back and still feel welcome at the supper table.

It teaches frightened congregations to stop asking "Who's my patron?" and start praying "Our Father, who art right here in the middle of this mess with the rest of us."

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Closing the Chasm at the Gate Luke 16:19-31

This table today, set by God, is its own bridge that crosses every chasm. We come to the bread and the cup as people who need help, as well as the people who can help.

We come to remember Jesus, who crossed a greater chasm than any we've built, and who returns to find whether we've learned what he's been trying to teach us.

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Counting the Costs (Luke 14:25-33)

Following Jesus costs a great deal more than we’re able to afford on our own. Let’s not kid ourselves, there are crosses with our names on them, just waiting for us.

And to be clear: in Luke, “take up your cross” isn’t code for generic misery, like “my bunions are acting up.” The cross is the predictable blowback you get for aligning publicly with Jesus and his upside-down reign in a world organized to keep the powerful comfortable. It’s the social shame and concrete political and economic risk that come when you side with the people Jesus sides with.

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Being Told Who You Are (Luke 14: 1, 7-14)

So what would it look like if we lived this out?

It’d look like neighborhoods where homeowners invite renters. Schools where kids who get free lunch sit at the head table. Churches where people on the margins don't just get charity, they get justice.

I think it'd look like budgets that stop hunting for quarters in the couch cushions when it comes to feeding the hungry, while writing blank checks for weapons and tax breaks for the folks who need them least.

It'd look like communities where the poor aren't a problem to solve but guests of honor at the feast.

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What We Protect Matters (Luke 13:10–17)

And we’re the key. We need to make sure this room isn’t welcoming to indifference.

We need to advocate that meetings halt until anonymous faces have names. We need to fight for budgets that carry a compass and know when they’ve strayed from their true direction. We need our prayers to have hands and feet.

We need to straighten what’s gotten crooked—not because we can solve everything, but because we refuse to keep the ox watered while a daughter stays bent.

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When the World’s on Fire (Luke 12:49-56)

We live in a world where so many go to bed terrified—parents for their children’s safety, and children for their parents, that they won’t be targeted and rounded up just because of the color of their skin; but Jesus announces a world where everyone has a place to go to feel safe from harm, a sanctuary from the hatred and violence.

We live in a world that feels like it needs the fire of God’s transformation, a new way of living together.

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Maybe Charity’s the Problem (Luke 12:32-40)

In the world God desires, apparently, the more we have, the less we get to choose whether or not to give.

Viewing giving as an act of justice that the giver is obliged to perform helps correct power imbalances by affirming that those who are first will be last, so that those who are last may be first. It is God’s good pleasure, according to Jesus, to give us a world where the coin of the realm isn’t about grasping for everything we can get, but about selling what we have and sharing it.

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When Enough Isn't Enough Luke 12:13-21

To be rich toward God is to divest from the myth of self-sufficiency. To stop pretending we'll live forever if we just insulate ourselves well enough. It means investing in what death can't repossess. And it means doing it now—because by the time the tow truck shows up, it's already too late to check your balance.

Jesus isn't just warning us. He's calling us out of the illusion of permanence and into the grace-filled community of participation—the kind of investment where the gold doesn’t rust or the moth destroy.

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Shameless Prayer Luke 11:1-13

But here’s the thing, real prayer to the God who doesn't do shame produces people who stop using shame as a sorting tool. If God rushes in to help with zero calculations, then maybe the question isn't "How do I sound more spiritual?" but "Am I reflecting God's shameless generosity or humanity's shame-soaked gatekeeping?"

Refugees, broke neighbors, starving babies in Gaza, overwhelmed friends showing up at your door like it's midnight and they're out of options? They’re not a spiritual test. They're an invitation to look like the God we claim to follow.

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Justice Matters (Amos 8:1-12)

But Amos is raining down fire on the whole nation. Everybody.

Why?

Because the crimes against the powerless Amos lays out aren’t just a few rotten apples. The crimes Amos names are institutionalized; they’re accepted as part of the fabric of society—you know, just the way things are.

In other words, there are good moral folks who know what’s going on—those who see the injustice being perpetrated on the helpless, aware of the labor being stolen from the voiceless—and yet remain silent.

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Walking Into a World on Fire (Acts 2:1-21)

God didn't show up to make everybody speak the same language. God showed up so we could understand one another across our differences. That's not a return to uniformity. That's a celebration of diversity. That's a vision of the reign of God where every clan and nation and tongue can come to the table as themselves, not as carbon copies of whoever got there first.

And, let's be honest, we know how badly a little diversity triggers some folks in our country. We've seen what happens when people start talking about making room at the table for voices that have historically been excluded, for perspectives that challenge the comfortable assumptions of those who've always held power.

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