As a minister, I strive for opportunities to expose people to different ideas, which often require decentering and deconstructing long-held beliefs. This is filled with moments and comments from cradle churchgoers who have carried theological interpretations from their childhood well into adulthood. Some are still life-giving, while others are not so much.

Each Friday in The Christian Citizen, we publish a Religion News Roundup with summaries of religion news stories and links for those who want to read more.

The Nakba was not just a moment in history — it was the beginning of an exile that continues. Refugee camps still stand, keys to lost homes remain clutched in aging hands, and the dream of return refuses to fade.

One of the valuable lessons we can take from both Mennonites and Sámi is that legacies that go on are the ones that are communal in nature. The communities that survive are the ones that dare to remember and, even more surprising, dare to celebrate.

The Bible is many things, but I believe it is primarily a story. That story is not meant to remain firmly entrenched in the past but is instead supposed to provide us with the tools first to imagine ourselves as participating in the great story of God’s redemption, and second to allow us to structure our lives so that we tell the story that God is telling even now.