Jesus was a table-turning radical

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Contributing Writer

Rev. John Helmiere is the convener of Valley & Mountain in South Seattle.

A spirituality with contours

By John Helmiere | October 10, 2018

Real Change columnist

Years ago I was on an airplane reading a book about liberation theology. The woman sitting next to me saw the word “God” in the title and got excited. “I’m a Christian, too!” she said. I thought, “What could possibly go wrong?” In the conversation that followed, we rapidly discovered that our Gods, our Jesuses, our spiritualities were not synchronized. In fact, they were adversaries. ...

The spirituality of disobedience

By John Helmiere | September 12, 2018

Real Change columnist

Last week, I was one of 22 people arrested on Fifth Avenue in front of the Westin Hotel while hundreds of hotel cleaners and allies, including a large group from my congregation, marched in a picket line. We were not alone. ...

Boundaries and Love

By John Helmiere | August 8, 2018

Real Change columnist

Brené Brown defines a personal boundary as “what is okay for you and what is not okay for you.” It is a simple definition for a terribly complicated thing.

As a pastor, I often get to process and pray with people about their messiest dilemmas. One of the most common issues that I observe is how difficult it is for many folks to name, enforce and respect personal boundaries. ...

Where are the prophets?

By John Helmiere | July 11, 2018

Real Change columnist

At our borders, toddlers are locked in cages.

In our courtrooms, children are left to defend themselves.

In Seattle, we are building a new jail to incarcerate youth.

In times like these, I turn to the prophets. But where are they?

First, let’s clarify a common misconception. Prophets are not fortune-tellers.

Prophets are truth-tellers.

The Hebrew prophets boldly confronted the ruling class with harsh truths, usually about social justice. ...

Theologies devalue bodies

By John Helmiere | June 13, 2018

Real Change columnist

Immigrant children are currently being torn from their parents’ arms and locked in separate cells. Yet vast numbers of so-called evangelical Christians are silent or even supportive. The roots of Christian acceptance of this sort of evil may be found in a twisted form of Gnostic theology. ...

Youth jail revelations

By John Helmiere | May 9, 2018

Monthly columnist

Last week, The Seattle Times published an opinion piece arguing that the No New Youth Jail movement was “a dangerous fantasy.” Writer Danny Westneat centers his column on a case of murder allegedly involving several youth. He says his issue is primarily that our movement must want murderers to run wild. ...

The current of love and grace

By John Helmiere | April 11, 2018

Real Change columnist

Last year, I tried fixing my clothes-drying machine. I kept forgetting to unplug it and I got shocked no less than a dozen times (I went into the humanities for a reason). Every time I got shocked, my arm jumped and twitched painfully. In movies you see people touch a major power source and get thrown across a room.

It turns out that this actually happens, but not for the reason that most of us imagine. Most of us envision that when you touch a hot power source, electricity flows into your body kind of like a painful liquid flowing out of the wall socket and into your veins. ...