From the Editor

All Things in Common? Peter Mommsen With the concept of socialism back in mainstream conversations and increasing numbers of Christians unhappy with “Sunday Christianity,” it’s time to give the lifestyle of Jesus’ first followers another look.

Dispatch

Three Open Wounds Pedro H. Arriaga Alarcón In 1997, paramilitary fighters massacred 45 Mayan peasants, members of a Christian group committed to nonviolence as they prayed for peace. Plough asked their priest how his community has fared since.

Essays

Life Together: Beyond Sunday Religion and Social Activism Charles E. Moore Community is not easy, but it is the mark of the kingdom of God. From Property to Community Eberhard Arnold Separating and isolating individuals is the poisonous root of property: its curse is that individuals lose connection to one another and, what is worse, to God. The effects are mortal. Arnold explores how and why this is so, then points to an answer. Confessing to One Another Johnny Fransham Confessing your sins to someone – even someone you trust – is never easy because it means becoming vulnerable. But renewal, freedom, and joy are the reward. The Way: Two Millennia of Christian Community Alden Bass The history of committed Christian community is a story of roads: the first followers of Jesus called themselves “the Way.” An overview of communal Christian movements from the earliest days of Christianity up to the present. Live Like You Give a Damn Tom Sine Isn’t working for the well-being of humankind and God’s good creation central to following Jesus? Sine stirs to action, pointing out that many non-religious people put “love of neighbor” into practice far better than so-called Christians. The Jesus Indians of Ohio Craig D. Atwood As the American War of Independence raged, Christian settlers and Native Americans lived together as brothers and sisters – and paid the ultimate price for their nonviolent discipleship. Why I Love to Wear a Head Covering Norann Voll Bruderhof member Voll shares her reasons for wearing a head covering and dressing modestly. Her style of dress is a flag of freedom: from objectification, from worry over fashion, and most importantly, freedom to be the woman God created her to be.

Reading

Blessing out of Pain Rick Warren God doesn’t waste a hurt. He can use pain to direct us in the way he wants us to go, to reveal what’s inside of us, to perfect us, and to make us more like himself. Read the foreword Pastor Rick Warren wrote to a new book on pain and healing. Solidarity Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to worry over food and clothing. But this should not be misunderstood: It would be a sin to say to someone living destitute and alone, “Don’t worry!” We must first create conditions in which this can become reality. Repentance Johann Christoph Arnold The practice of church discipline has been abandoned by most churches today. The zeitgeist would have us believe that what people need most is loving acceptance, not confrontation. Yet, discipline is key to experiencing clarity and forgiveness. The Luxury of Being Surprised D. L. Mayfield My family planted ourselves in the most diverse neighborhood in America. We were thrilled as only white people can be, gentrifiers in every sense of the word. But things change when you allow your neighbors’ experience to shape you...

Poetry

Poem: Rainfall Matthew Baker Ponder the spiritual lesson of the humble raindrop with poet Matthew Baker, an Orthodox priest who died in a tragic accident just six weeks after being installed in his first parish. Water always seeks the lowest place, he writes. Do I? Two Poems David Holper In “Jonah’s Lament,” the Old Testament prophet grumbles – much like us – until he realizes that his “hope is failing, and there’s nowhere left to run,” while “Aubade” is an ode to the often-overlooked beauty of little things.

Fiction

The Incident in Changu’s Pepper Patch Kwon Jeong-saeng A read-aloud story for Father’s Day: Since early spring, Changu’s mother and older sister have tended their pepper plants. But just over the next hill, a thief lurks in the shadows, waiting to steal the years crop from under the farmers’ noses...

Editors' Picks

Editors’ Picks Issue 9 Sam Hine Plough’s editors share their best reads of recent weeks. This issue (Plough Quarterly No. 9, Summer 2016) they feature books by Eugene Vodolazkin, Samar Yazbek, Duncan Hamilton, and Matthew Desmond.

Family and Friends

Serving Children in Pyongyang Dr. Yoon has spearheaded a program in Pyongyang to help children with cerebral palsy learn to walk. He is a member of Ignis Community, one of the few openly Christian ministries operating in North Korea.

Another View

The Sacrament of the Last Supper Salvador Dalí Dalí’s painting, The Sacrament of the Last Supper, can be jarring, even shocking, to both Christian and secular viewers. That is precisely the point. An empty place at the table invites you to share in the sacrament. But only on your knees.

Forum

Readers Respond Summer 2016 Plough readers respond to “Hope in the Void,” “Love in Syria,” and “Invisible People” from the Spring 2016 issue, and to “Snapshots from Lesbos,” from the Winter 2016 issue. One comment pertains to the Winter 2015 issue on Childhood.

Doers

Friars of Manhattan Jamal Huleatt The writer shares impressions from a visit to a Franciscan Friars of the Renewal friary in Manhattan and asks the brothers about their lives. We learn which of their three vows is hardest to keep, and what Folish soup is. American Hospitality: Jubilee Partners Sam Hine Jubilee Partners, an intentional Christian community in rural Georgia, welcomes refugees and other immigrants, offers them a home and English lessons, and works to change global perceptions. Read their story.

Inklings

Possessions C. S. Lewis Of all the things that can come between people and poison life in community, possessiveness is perhaps the most common. In this piece from C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, a senior devil gives advice on how best to corrupt a human. Differences Henri J. M. Nouwen Both sameness and uniqueness can be affirmed in community. Unity Chiara Lubich If we are united, Jesus is among us. This has value: it is worth more than anything else. How many people, in error, look at creatures and things in order to possess them! Out of love for Jesus, let your neighbors possess you... At Table Leonardo Boff Table fellowship is linked to the very essence of being human. When our ancestors went out to hunt and gather, they did not eat individually what they found. They brought the food to the group in what was the first leap from animality to humanity.

Interview

Why Community Is Dangerous Stanley Hauerwas America’s most frequently quoted theologian talks with Plough editor Peter Mommsen about the Benedict Option, evangelism, marriage, Christian communism, and why voting is overrated.

Forerunners

Vincent van Gogh Jason Landsel How did a man who in many ways personified the caricature of a tortured artist, who sold only one painting in his lifetime, and who committed suicide at age thirty-seven become one of our era’s most admired painters?