:: in.a.mirror.dimly :: A theology and culture blog with the Bible in one tab and a news feed in the other.

<%image(20050426-philadelphia.jpg|313|160|philly)%> Going onto msn this morning I noticed a picture on the home page that looked curiously like Philadelphia, my birthplace and the home of water ice, cheese steaks, scrapple, and pessimistic sports fans.

And then I noticed the caption, “Is Your Town Down?” Uh, oh, I think I know what’s coming. It turns out that in a survey of the happiest and most depressed cities, Philadelphia came out on top, # 1 that is, in the depression category.

That’s right, we beat out Detroit (maybe it was a close second) and New England has nothing on us. So for all of our complaining and whining, we’ve finally found something we’re good at: depression.

It reminds me that God’s church bearing his Gospel is really the only hope for our world. We need more communities like liberti who view themselves as a redemptive presence in the city, living out the freedom of the Kingdom of God. Philadelphia is surely in a spiritual funk of sorts and I pray that more workers for the kingdom would be added to the depressed masses in the city of brotherly love.