Joel Simpson
@joelrsimpson.bsky.social
Artist, Writer, Preacher, Doctoral Student @dukeuniversity
joelsimpson.substack.com
joelsimpson.substack.com
Reposted by Joel Simpson
INBOX: Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis & American Conference of Cantors issue a lengthy statement declaring:
"Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the 'total victory' over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law."
"Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the 'total victory' over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law."
July 28, 2025 at 2:01 AM
INBOX: Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis & American Conference of Cantors issue a lengthy statement declaring:
"Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the 'total victory' over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law."
"Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the 'total victory' over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law."
Thanks to Gaston Gazette for running an Op-Ed reflection I wrote on the Moral Monday in Gastonia. It shares some stories about people who will be impacted, clarifies facts vs lies, and insists nice sounding words won’t distract people from what’s happening
www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2...
www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2...
www.gastongazette.com
July 19, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Thanks to Gaston Gazette for running an Op-Ed reflection I wrote on the Moral Monday in Gastonia. It shares some stories about people who will be impacted, clarifies facts vs lies, and insists nice sounding words won’t distract people from what’s happening
www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2...
www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2...
We were arrested as we prayed for those who will be killed by this immoral budget Congress is trying to pass. We brought 51 coffins for the 51,000 people health policy experts say will die next year if this budget is passed. We demand a moral budget, not a death dealing scheme.
July 3, 2025 at 2:28 PM
We were arrested as we prayed for those who will be killed by this immoral budget Congress is trying to pass. We brought 51 coffins for the 51,000 people health policy experts say will die next year if this budget is passed. We demand a moral budget, not a death dealing scheme.
“Seeing this masked man on the floor, with this woman, I got triggered. I said, ‘Where am I?’ in one moment. I said, ‘Where I am, in the street of Tehran [Iran] or the street of Los Angeles?’”
Via @fiona-ndre.bsky.social: For years, persecuted Christians abroad — including Iranian Christians — has been a cause célèbre on the right, including Trump.
But this week, CBP arrested Iranian Christian asylum-seekers as their pastor looked on, despondent. religionnews.com/2025/06/27/p...
But this week, CBP arrested Iranian Christian asylum-seekers as their pastor looked on, despondent. religionnews.com/2025/06/27/p...
Pastor films as masked federal agents arrest Iranian Christian asylum-seekers in LA
(RNS) — The arrests sparked angst in the community and have concerned advocates of Iranian Christians who’ve fled persecution from the Islamic regime.
religionnews.com
June 28, 2025 at 11:32 AM
“Seeing this masked man on the floor, with this woman, I got triggered. I said, ‘Where am I?’ in one moment. I said, ‘Where I am, in the street of Tehran [Iran] or the street of Los Angeles?’”
Yesterday, I was arrested in the Capitol building while praying about the budget with other faith leaders
This budget kills the poor by cutting essential resources all while giving tax breaks to the rich and increasing the military budget
This is moral issue
religionnews.com/2025/05/05/s...
This budget kills the poor by cutting essential resources all while giving tax breaks to the rich and increasing the military budget
This is moral issue
religionnews.com/2025/05/05/s...
Shane Claiborne, four other faith activists arrested while protesting GOP budget bill
WASHINGTON (RNS) — 'Stir the conscience of our nation. Let justice rise up on these very steps, let truth trouble the chambers of the Capitol,' Shane Claiborne said as he prayed.
religionnews.com
May 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Yesterday, I was arrested in the Capitol building while praying about the budget with other faith leaders
This budget kills the poor by cutting essential resources all while giving tax breaks to the rich and increasing the military budget
This is moral issue
religionnews.com/2025/05/05/s...
This budget kills the poor by cutting essential resources all while giving tax breaks to the rich and increasing the military budget
This is moral issue
religionnews.com/2025/05/05/s...
FYI. Jesus quotes Leviticus 19:18 when he says “love your neighbor as yourself.” That includes immigrants. But just to be clear, a few verses later Leviticus 19:34 says this: “Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself."
April 4, 2025 at 11:53 PM
FYI. Jesus quotes Leviticus 19:18 when he says “love your neighbor as yourself.” That includes immigrants. But just to be clear, a few verses later Leviticus 19:34 says this: “Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself."
“The hardest part isn’t envisioning the end but living in the sluggish in between.” ~ Charles Marsh.
April 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
“The hardest part isn’t envisioning the end but living in the sluggish in between.” ~ Charles Marsh.
A prayer for when you feel lost and uncertain, which might be a lot these days
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me
I cannot know for certain where it will end
nor do I really know myself
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me
I cannot know for certain where it will end
nor do I really know myself
March 20, 2025 at 1:00 PM
A prayer for when you feel lost and uncertain, which might be a lot these days
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me
I cannot know for certain where it will end
nor do I really know myself
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me
I cannot know for certain where it will end
nor do I really know myself
St. Patrick’s Day is rooted in the life of a real person, St. Patrick - whose story might just baffle your mind and challenge you to rethink everything about your life and relationships, especially in a time like ours
March 17, 2025 at 9:53 PM
St. Patrick’s Day is rooted in the life of a real person, St. Patrick - whose story might just baffle your mind and challenge you to rethink everything about your life and relationships, especially in a time like ours
St. Patrick’s Day is rooted in the life of a real person, St. Patrick - whose story might just baffle your mind and challenge you to rethink everything about your life and relationships, especially in a time like ours.
joelsimpson.substack.com/p/st-patrick...
joelsimpson.substack.com/p/st-patrick...
St. Patrick - The Saint for a Time Like Ours
St. Patrick’s story might just baffle your mind and challenge you to rethink everything about your life and relationships.
joelsimpson.substack.com
March 17, 2025 at 2:14 PM
St. Patrick’s Day is rooted in the life of a real person, St. Patrick - whose story might just baffle your mind and challenge you to rethink everything about your life and relationships, especially in a time like ours.
joelsimpson.substack.com/p/st-patrick...
joelsimpson.substack.com/p/st-patrick...
Love is not some feeling. Love always shows up in material and physical ways. Don’t get lost in what people are saying. Look at what they’re doing. That’s the proof of love.
March 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Love is not some feeling. Love always shows up in material and physical ways. Don’t get lost in what people are saying. Look at what they’re doing. That’s the proof of love.
I am regularly reminded that those who have experienced so much suffering and pain have pursued justice with determination and a refusal to be silent, but they have done this out of a spirit of love rather than hate…because love is the only way.
March 13, 2025 at 2:40 PM
I am regularly reminded that those who have experienced so much suffering and pain have pursued justice with determination and a refusal to be silent, but they have done this out of a spirit of love rather than hate…because love is the only way.
Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
March 10, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Father Thomas Keating said,
“Welcoming Prayer is the practice that actively lets go of thoughts and feelings that support the false-self system. It embraces painful emotions experienced in the body rather than avoiding them or trying to suppress them. It does not embrace the suffering...
“Welcoming Prayer is the practice that actively lets go of thoughts and feelings that support the false-self system. It embraces painful emotions experienced in the body rather than avoiding them or trying to suppress them. It does not embrace the suffering...
March 7, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Father Thomas Keating said,
“Welcoming Prayer is the practice that actively lets go of thoughts and feelings that support the false-self system. It embraces painful emotions experienced in the body rather than avoiding them or trying to suppress them. It does not embrace the suffering...
“Welcoming Prayer is the practice that actively lets go of thoughts and feelings that support the false-self system. It embraces painful emotions experienced in the body rather than avoiding them or trying to suppress them. It does not embrace the suffering...
Ash Wednesday is a reminder that “From dust you came, to dust you shall return”
Life is temporary, fragile, and short
Which makes special and sacred.
And because of that, we want to live in intentional ways
Ways that add to life for ourselves and others...
Life is temporary, fragile, and short
Which makes special and sacred.
And because of that, we want to live in intentional ways
Ways that add to life for ourselves and others...
March 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Ash Wednesday is a reminder that “From dust you came, to dust you shall return”
Life is temporary, fragile, and short
Which makes special and sacred.
And because of that, we want to live in intentional ways
Ways that add to life for ourselves and others...
Life is temporary, fragile, and short
Which makes special and sacred.
And because of that, we want to live in intentional ways
Ways that add to life for ourselves and others...
"We are called to love everyone, without exception; at the same time, loving an oppressor does not mean allowing him to keep oppressing us, or letting him think that what he does is acceptable. On the contrary, true love for an oppressor means seeking ways to make him cease his oppression; it means
March 4, 2025 at 2:00 PM
"We are called to love everyone, without exception; at the same time, loving an oppressor does not mean allowing him to keep oppressing us, or letting him think that what he does is acceptable. On the contrary, true love for an oppressor means seeking ways to make him cease his oppression; it means
"Let no man pull you so low as to make you hate him.”
~Booker T. Washington
~Booker T. Washington
March 4, 2025 at 1:25 AM
"Let no man pull you so low as to make you hate him.”
~Booker T. Washington
~Booker T. Washington
With all the chaos, fear, and disorder happening - I’ve found 2 things helpful.
1) making sure I am doing things to stay grounded and compassionate.
2) spending more time listening and learning from people in our community who have been ignored, excluded, and stripped of power long before now.
1) making sure I am doing things to stay grounded and compassionate.
2) spending more time listening and learning from people in our community who have been ignored, excluded, and stripped of power long before now.
March 1, 2025 at 10:14 PM
With all the chaos, fear, and disorder happening - I’ve found 2 things helpful.
1) making sure I am doing things to stay grounded and compassionate.
2) spending more time listening and learning from people in our community who have been ignored, excluded, and stripped of power long before now.
1) making sure I am doing things to stay grounded and compassionate.
2) spending more time listening and learning from people in our community who have been ignored, excluded, and stripped of power long before now.
What’s the difference between naming the harm and injustice by speaking out and just being a nuisance that creates deeper animosity and division within your own family and community?
March 1, 2025 at 6:52 PM
What’s the difference between naming the harm and injustice by speaking out and just being a nuisance that creates deeper animosity and division within your own family and community?
If the Prophets in the Bible haven’t made sense in the past, read them again
Doom to those who pronounce wicked decrees
and keep writing harmful laws
to deprive the needy of their rights
and to rob the poor among my people of justice
to make widows their loot
to steal from orphans!
-Isaiah 10
Doom to those who pronounce wicked decrees
and keep writing harmful laws
to deprive the needy of their rights
and to rob the poor among my people of justice
to make widows their loot
to steal from orphans!
-Isaiah 10
February 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM
If the Prophets in the Bible haven’t made sense in the past, read them again
Doom to those who pronounce wicked decrees
and keep writing harmful laws
to deprive the needy of their rights
and to rob the poor among my people of justice
to make widows their loot
to steal from orphans!
-Isaiah 10
Doom to those who pronounce wicked decrees
and keep writing harmful laws
to deprive the needy of their rights
and to rob the poor among my people of justice
to make widows their loot
to steal from orphans!
-Isaiah 10
Manifest Destiny came out of Christianity. That’s something they don’t teach in school or church. But it’s something people are strangely familiar with. During his Inaugural address, President Trump spoke about “Manifest Destiny.”
The Manifestation of Our Destiny
Manifest Destiny came out of Christianity.
That’s something they don’t teach in school or church. But it’s something people are strangely familiar with. During his Inaugural address, President Trump ...
substack.com
February 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Manifest Destiny came out of Christianity. That’s something they don’t teach in school or church. But it’s something people are strangely familiar with. During his Inaugural address, President Trump spoke about “Manifest Destiny.”