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Articles by Mark Hiskes
Room for Gay Bellwethers in God’s Flock
On his way to visit a friend, a man pulls his car into a side street of a small Scottish town, turns off the engine, and leans onto the steering wheel. A devout Christian, he begins to pray, “apologizing to his Maker for how he has been made.” Sit with that prayer a moment. It’s a man he’s visiting, one he’s been deeply in love with his whole life.
Exploring The Universe of the Soul, One Letter at a Time
Some mornings, before going out, I ask, “Alexa, what’s the temperature outside?” Her answer helps me know what to wear. The other day, on a whim, I asked, “Alexa, how do I look?” After politely reminding me to turn on the camera, she said, “Just a second.” Then, as I posed, she responded, “You’re still sporting that green shirt and glasses. Still looking as good as ever.” Unmoved, I turned off the camera. “She” is an “it,” after all, however much its creators want us to think otherwise.
Meeting Big Brother at the ICE Office
Javier, a member of our church whose name I’ve changed for this story, was born in Nicaragua, but in search of a safer, more secure life, he walked the 3,000+ miles to the U.S. southern border, where he turned himself in and was granted asylum papers. During the last three years, with the help of a lawyer, he has acquired a work permit and a Social Security number.
Passing the Peace
Good weeks, it happens twice. First, on Sunday morning, our sunlit sanctuary stained-glass gold, faces, too, lit up as we reach and stretch and lean past ancient, creaky pews to shake that timid boy’s hand or hug this fragile saint whose love of seventy years has passed.
A Star to Guide Us
At work on his plane after surviving a crash landing in the Sahara Desert, the pilot, alone and exhausted, with just enough water to survive eight more days, is confronted by a small voice that says, “Please, draw me a sheep.” So begins Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic, The Little Prince—a mysterious and often-mischaracterized fable. Most everyone has heard of it: after The Bible it’s the most frequently translated book of the twentieth century.
It's About Us - Reformed Journal
which is an empathy pronoun, replacing her and him and you and it and, praise the Lord, other. Like we, us is a two-letter embrace so wide it includes anyone, a helping hand so holy it lifts the lifter too. It’s the poet’s “pierless bridge” beyond the veil, a walk so vast it spans dear Thou in heaven to all ye below and the very least of these along the way.
I Cheerfully Refuse
I Cheerfully Refuse Published by Grove Press in 336pp / $28.00 / 978-0802162939 As dark as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006) is, it’s a novel that offers a powerful answer to a profound question: if mankind were to destroy itself and this world, is there anything that would, that could endure?
A Word to Gatekeepers
Alice Walker’s short story “The Welcome Table” introduces an old, poor Black woman in the South, who, one Sunday, decides to worship at the church down the highway. After a long walk on a bitterly cold morning, the woman arrives at the church steps. “Perhaps she had known suffering,” Walker writes. She “was angular and lean and the color of poor Georgia earth, beaten by king cotton and the extreme weather.
A Poem for Grieving Teachers
The day began a calendar coincidence of Hallmark and Holy — red hearts clashing with black crosses — but ended in more tragic irony than even the faithful few find stomach to forgive. In Michigan a first-hour homeroom teacher hands bright paper hearts to her girls, a silly high school tradition each Valentine’s Day: if a boy tricks a girl into speaking to him, she must give up her heart.
A Poem for Grieving Teachers
I will express myself with civility, courtesy, and respect for every member of the Sojourners online community, especially toward those with whom I disagree, even if I feel disrespected by them. (Romans 12:17-21) I will express my disagreements with other community members' ideas without insulting, mocking, or slandering them personally. (Matthew 5:22) I will not exaggerate others' beliefs nor make unfounded prejudicial assumptions based on labels, categories, or stereotypes.
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