Urban Current

by Charles Lyons From down and dirty Humboldt Park where our alderman was convicted on federal charges for schemes including arson for profit, to the sedate green streets of Irving Park for a temporary stay, […]

by Charles Lyons Hurricane Sandy. The Newtown school shooting. The West, TX, fertilizer plant explosion. The Boston Marathon bombing. Whether it’s a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or tragedy in a small town, a community can […]

by Charles Lyons “Out my window” sounds funny when you stop and listen to the phrase. Is it correct? Sounds all wrong grammatically. I’m missing a preposition. Should it be “Out of my window?” “Out […]

by Charles Lyons The trend is clear. Just over 50 percent of the world population lives in urban cen­ters. That’s up from 9 percent in 1900 and headed for 60 percent by 2030. Do we […]

by Charles Lyons Six-feet-plus with a football player’s build. Half black, half Polish. For years I assumed he was Puerto Rican. I wish you could meet Richard.* When our church moved into the hulking former […]

by Charles Lyons David Claerbaut is a true city dude. He has lived and ministered as a Chicago resident over a number of decades. His involvement in a number of ministries is cou­pled with being […]

by Charles Lyons President Obama is an urbanite. The peo­ple who put him in office are urbanites. In my November 2012 Urban Current, “You Live in an Urbanized World”, I told you in so many […]

by Charles Lyons  “The history of Jerusalem is the his­tory of the world, but it is also the chronicle of an often penurious, provincial town amid the Judean hills. Jeru­salem was once regarded as the […]

by Charles Lyons You can run but you can’t hide. These are the words I used in my first “Urban Current” in February 2005. I told of sitting in an outdoor café in Kyrgyzstan with […]

by Charles Lyons Urban ministry is no contemporary phenomenon. From the first centu­ry through the Middle Ages, during and following The Industrial Revolution right into modern times, urban congregations have engaged in great exploits for […]