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Gloria Edwards, a client and patient at City on a Hill since 2011, dabs the corner of her eyes with a tissue when she talks about the impact the nonprofit has had on her life. “I don’t think I’d still be alive if I hadn’t been coming here. I didn’t have any insurance,” Edwards said. According to Kids Forward, an advocacy group for Wisconsin communities and families, Edwards is one of 323,000 Wisconsinites without insurance.
BEAVER DAM – No alcohol was served, unless the wine during Communion counts, and there was no dancing, but otherwise Sunday morning’s concerts were just another gig for the Goodtime Dutchmen polka band. First Lutheran Church of Beaver Dam held its first polka services on Sunday, which, judging by the swaying and toe-tapping parishioners plus the applause at the end, were a hit.
What defines the identity of a city? When you picture a typical town or suburb, maybe you see the community rallying their support for the school, whether at a sports competition, concert, or other school event. Or perhaps you picture a quaint downtown or city center with local businesses that define the flavors and services that are so beloved by their neighbors. These central staples of a city build a bond between citizens across age and racial lines. Well, Fitchburg is not your typical Madison suburb. Though its population is just about thousand shy of Middleton and Verona combined, there is…
The Jewish Synagogues and Christian churches in our cities are both houses of worship, but from two separate faith traditions. One tradition worships on Saturday, the other worships on Sunday. Acknowledging some obvious, basic differences, I still used to feel that they functioned in much the same basic way. But that was before I began talking to archaeologists about synagogues in the first century, in the time of Jesus.
The statewide program that provides a taxpayer subsidy for students to attend private schools experienced a 37% increase in enrollment this year. In Dane County, three new schools joined the statewide voucher program this year after Lighthouse Christian School in Madison had been the sole school in the county participating since the statewide program’s inception in 2013.
The word behold is used over a thousand times in the Bible including, near the beginning, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” [KJV] David Conover’s award-winning documentary, Behold the Earth, features Christian creation care activists who remind viewers that the Christian faith tradition, contrary to some contemporary trends, has often led in environmental concern. The documentary features, in a major way, University of Wisconsin environmental studies professor Calvin DeWitt; as well as the late Theo Colborn, who got her PhD at the University of Wisconsin; and climate scientist Katherine Heyhoe, who…
Plain People is an umbrella term for various Amish and Old Order Mennonite groups who set themselves apart from the modern world in different ways. The groups are offshoots of the Anabaptist movement launched in 1527, which was itself a fringe movement of the Protestant Reformation. Differences between Amish and Mennonites are not always easy to identify.
Easily the most meaningful, valuable act of service I’ve ever done is also Madison’s longest-running collaboration among communities of faith: the Community Meal Program at Luke House. Its aim is simple: to provide a good meal to anyone who wants it, served with dignity and in a comfortable environment. The meals are served in an unassuming building called Luke House at 310 S. Ingersoll St. All of the food and labor is donated by faith communities. Almost all denominations are represented, along with a few unattached volunteers.
I believe the Lord God has made another massive dent in the kingdom of darkness in Madison! WE International, Inspiring Hope Ministries, and Upper House collaborated to invite Bob Goff, author, speaker, lawyer, and Christian activist to bring his “Dream Big and Love Extravagantly Conference” to a sell out crowd at Upperhouse Friday night. Goff is a two time New York Times best selling author of Love Does and Everybody, Always, Honorary Consul to the Republic of Uganda, and founder of the non-profit Love Does, a human rights organization operating in Uganda, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
On a quiet Sunday morning in August, members of a small majority-black church on the Far East Side welcomed white strangers into their worship service with wide smiles and warm hugs. Mother Rose Brown reached down and held the hand of a white woman visiting Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church with her black boyfriend for the first time from Chicago. Another black woman from the church called another white newcomer “sister.”