SojoMail - The good news of Bad Bunny

View this email in your browser By Betsy Shirley Editor in Chief, Sojourners Avocadoes are on sale and those He Gets Us ads are back, which can only mean one thing: The Super Bowl is this weekend. This year, conservative corners of the internet are upset that Bad Bunny is performing at halftime. Instead of watching the Puerto Rican reggaeton star (and outspoken Trump critic), the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA is promoting an alternate show starring Kid Rock and focused on so-called more American values of “faith, freedom, and family.” Never mind that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and, by all measures, one of the most Christian jurisdictions of the U.S.—irony that isn’t lost in Jenna Barnett’s humorous take on the uproar. For another good take on Bad Bunny, I suggest Sojourners columnist José Humphreys III, who considers God’s movement through spaces on the margins, including the barrio. And though Humphreys engages topics Turning Point USA fans love—faith, national identity, and freedom—I doubt they’d love his conclusion. Elsewhere, ecstatic Shaker utopias come to theaters while violent dystopias continue to play out on city streets crowded with federal uniforms. We're trying to parse what’s unique about the injustice we face today and what we can learn from other Christians’ social justice struggles. Through it all, “Our hope for a world of justice remains,” writes Vincent Lloyd, “and we must figure out how to act on that hope in our changing world.” P.S.—Don’t know what Super Bowl ads I'm talking about? Josiah R. Daniels wrote What ‘He Gets Us’ Ads Get Wrong About Jesus back in 2023. This Nation’s Violence Is No Longer Private (by Vincent Lloyd) Once confined to prisons and wars, our worst human instincts are no longer hidden—they’re paraded on city streets. Read the full article Advertisement Our Latest Stories From the Magazine: Bad Bunny's Holy Halftime (by José Humphreys III) Why it’s fitting that Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show takes place during the Christian season of Epiphany. Read more From the Magazine: Larry the Cucumber Should Headline TPUSA’s Halftime Show (by Jenna Barnett) And other really good, really plausible ways this event can live into the biblical call to social justice. Read more Read This Before You Compare What's Happening in the US to Nazi Germany (by Josiah R. Daniels) Hanna Reichel wants us to draw from a wider pool of Christian resistance movements as we resist authoritarianism. Read more A Forgotten Utopia Comes to Life in ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ (by Jenna Barnett) Through an artfully choreographed movie musical, director Mona Fastvold was determined to remember the ecstatic Shaker “who mothered the world.” Read more Advertisements Enrich Your 2026 Lenten Journey: Subscribe To "Holy Habits" Daily Email Meditations Deepen your "Holy Habits" of prayer, worship and Scripture with daily email Lenten meditations from Episcopal Relief & Development. Authored by popular TikTok personality Sister Monica Clare of the Community of St. John the Baptist, these reflections offer a path to a life rooted in God. Subscribe at episcopalrelief.org/lent. DC Fellowship: Faith-Rooted Social Justice At Sojourners, find your place in the movement through a year-long fellowship that combines meaningful work in media, mobilizing, advocacy, or nonprofit management with intentional Christian community. All your needs are covered while you build the skills, community, and connections for lasting impact. Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2026 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842

Earth January 2026

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EARTH: Earth Action, Reflection, Theology, and Hope From Advocacy to Activism “Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 A little over ten years ago, scientists and advocates from 195 nations gathered in Paris to create a framework to stop climate change. President Barak Obama called it, “The best chance to save the one planet we’ve got.” Now, as we enter 2026, climate politics is in tatters. President Trump has dismantled even the most modest US climate policies, and many other governments have turned their backs on the goal of carbon neutrality. Corporations have also abandoned environmental pledges with the shfiting political winds. Many enviromentalists, including those in the faith community, are frustrated by the lack of progress on climate change and other environmental issues, and are increasingly pursuing activism (challenging intrenched power structures through direct action) as well as advocacy (working within systems). In this issue of Earth, we offer thoughts and inspiration for those who are tired of waiting for our political and corporate leaders to face reality, and are ready to advocate for Mother Earth with louder voices. As tribal leader Ron Reed says in Ben Goldfarb’s essay, “A River Reborn,” “The fish don’t have a voice—that’s my job as a medicine man.” Eric Diekhans Editor Environmental Justice at GA Rev. Fred Milligan, co-facilitator of PEC’s Advocacy Committee, offers a overview of three overtures to the 2026 PCUSA General Assembly in Milwaukee. Read More Young Adults Take Action Young Adults from throughout the PCUSA are gathering virtually to connect, teach, and learn as they as they promote creation justice in their communities. Read More A River is Reborn Ben Goldfarb’s essay in Emergence Magazine is a hopeful story about the tireless work of Indigenous Peoples to free the Klamath River after a century of captivity. Read More Stronger Together PEC Moderator Courtenay Wilcox shares her awe at seeing the interfaith community coming together in solidarity to resist practices that our harming our earth and our Beloved Community. Read More Poetry An Early Spring Blessing  by Nancy Corson Carter Through bare trees, faint constellations glitter across light-years of distance. I think of the James Webb Space Telescope photos:  their whorls of brilliance from the birth of life  display like blooming jewels. Out here on the cold porch,  burdened by fears and yearnings in a berserking world, I take deep breaths and pray: May the stars be my advocates before the Maker of All whose love leads us  to learn from the dark  and to rejoice in the light. PRAY by Nancy Corson Carter                                       “Do not be anxious about anything, but in                                                           everything, by prayer and petition, with                                                           thanksgiving, present your request to God.”                                                                          2 Philippians 4: 6-7                                                        Today, on Veteran’s Day, I am typing, as always                                    with two arms, one a gift of my vet-Dad’s                                    bone graft; I wish to leaven each prayer and                                    petition I make with such thanksgiving.                                    I count all the loves I want to bless:                                    they cover my fears with kindness;                                    they remind me that anxiety is                                    a desolation in the midst of plenty.                                    I ask for forgiveness when I ignore                                    the soft white flowers’ fragrance                                    the blue butterfly on wet rocks                                    the tears and laughter of children.                                    When I feel cast down . . . unlovely,                                    I hopefully pray to the God-Child-Man                                    who is loveliest of all,                                    the dancer of Light in my darkest days. New temple by Steve Garnaas-Holmes         The days will come         when not one stone will be left upon another;         all will be thrown down....         This will give you an opportunity to testify.                                      —Luke 21.6, 13         Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.                                     —John 2.19 Let go of human things;       hang onto God.                  • When sacred structures fall apart,       the Holy Presence will dwell in us ourselves.                  • When people can no longer find forgiveness       in old systems,       the community of faith itself       will have to bear forgiveness to them.                  • No single stone is sacred;       they are all needed to make a temple.       Stay connected.                  • Don't expect society to go your way.       Bear witness to another Way.                  • When the temple falls        we become the temple.                  • When the world around you descends into darkness,       you can still shine with light.                  • The reason you were born,       the purpose for which God brought you into this world,       is to bear God's forgiving presence       in a world that is desperate for it. Video of the Moment At the 2025 Climate Crossroads, host John Izzo sat down with Bill McKibben, Brian McLaren, and Dr. Rupert Read to explore why humanity has stalled on climate action — and what must happen now. This urgent conversation blends truth-telling with hope, offering clarity on the choices before us.

Copyright (C) 2026 Presbyterians for Earth Care. All rights reserved.