What is Relief looking for?

We are looking for original, unpublished poetry and stories that reflect reality.  In terms of scope, the door is wide open, but still has some boundary.  A decent yardstick is the Bible.  Not the churchized version, but the real, gritty scripture:  Noah drank too much; Moses committed murder; David committed adultery, then tried to put his life back together; David’s daughter was horribly raped; poets expressed real doubt and exhilarating praise in the Psalms; Solomon spoke beautifully and unapologetically about sex; Jesus made fun of religious leaders, faced betrayal by a friend but still spoke highly of friendship, stared death down; Paul and Peter argued about race…

Christian authors need not only write expressly about God, faith, and church.  When Christ says “I send you out as a sheep among wolves,” he doesn’t say that we should shut our eyes and pretend they do not exist.  Relief is not opposed to stories about Christ or faith, and it is also not opposed to stories about raw, gritty, beautiful life.  We are looking for pieces that push the envelope; however, work that is gratuitously obscene or that has a message in clear contradiction with scripture will not be considered.