Author Archives: deacondawn

9. Get to know who your political representatives are at both the local and national level. Study their policy decisions and examine their moral compass and public leadership. Make your public convictions and commitments known to them and choose to hold them accountable. Politics. Seriously something I choose with intent to stay away from. iContinue reading “Seriously NOT my cup of tea”

8. Ask yourself what in the world today most breaks your heart and offends your sense of justice. Decide to help change that, and join with others who are committed to transforming that injustice. Here is where I tend to go off track completely. I feel so overwhelmed by things that routinely occur that areContinue reading “Heart breaking”

7. Look at the business, company or organization where you work from an ethical perspective. Ask what its vocation is, too. Challenge whatever is dishonest or exploitative and help your place of work do well by doing good. What a hard call this is! Pretty much anywhere you work, serve a local congregation, can practiceContinue reading “Where do you work?”

6. Make choices by distinguishing between wants and needs. Choose what is enough, rather than what is possible to get. Replace appetites with values, teach your children the same and model those values for all who are in your life. (Wallis, 2014) As a result of gutting out houses following Hurricane Katrina, I learned thatContinue reading “Wants vs. needs”

5. Seek to develop a vocation and not just a career Discern your gifts as a child of God, not just your talents and listen for your calling rather than just looking for opportunities. Remember that your personal good always relates to the common good. (Wallis, 2014) Oh, how I have struggled so with thisContinue reading “Vocational development”

4. Take seriously the place you live. Make the context of your life and work the “parish” for which you take responsibility. So often we look well past were we live in favor of far off exotic places. Yes, there are hungry children in Africa, and there are also hungry children in my home town.Continue reading “Take seriously the place you live”

3. If you are a person of faith, focus not just on what you believe but on how you act on those beliefs. If you love God, ask God how to love your neighbor. There is a song which I enjoy and my favorite line is “the only measure of your words and your deedsContinue reading “Acting on your beliefs”

2. If you are married, be faithful to your spouse. Demonstrate your commitment with both your fidelity and your love. If you are single, measure your relationships by their integrity, not their usefulness. Well, I am not married, so clearly the second half is more relevant to me. This is actually one of the questionsContinue reading “Fidelity in relationships, regardless”

1. If you are a father or a mother make your children the most important priority in your life and build your other commitments around them. If you are not a parent, look for children who could benefit from your investment in their lives. (Wallis, 2014) This is, at least, relatively easy for me. IContinue reading “Look for children”

The Iona Community members emphasize working for peace and social justice, rebuilding of community and renewal of worship. So it is safe to say that focusing on areas of injustice that need to have a light placed on them is one of the focal areas of the community. Some of them do this in veryContinue reading “What does it mean?”