This seems to be the season of “more” in many churches. Either folks want more, need more, or lament they don’t have more. What we really need to thrive are more young people. Or young families. Or more babies and kids (especially the kind that don’t make noise...
According to a recent poll, 61% of Americans admit to "self-silencing" — keeping their true opinions on sensitive topics to themselves. When asked if “a college degree is not worth it,” 29% of Americans publicly agree it’s not. In private, however, only 3% agree. “We live in...
Well, we may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves. But this summer, Pope Francis did publish a remarkable Letter on the Role of Literature In Formation, in which he made a provocative case (indeed, in his own words, proposed “a radical course”) for the...
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak...
Somewhere along the way, most of us have heard part of the myth of Icarus. The part we have heard usually involves the ingenious inventor Daedalus and his son Icarus, who are trapped together on the island of Crete. Seeking a way off the island, Daedalus crafts wings for...
The mind fits the world and shapes it as a river fits and shapes its own banks. -Annie Dillard (Living by Fiction) I would love to live Like a river flows, Carried by the surprise Of its own unfolding. -John O’Donohue (“Fluent”) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do...
In the last four verses of Psalm 85, we read: Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before the Lord and prepares the way for God’s...
You’ve snapped it onto a clipboard and passed it around at your church board meeting, or your youth committee meeting, or your congregational gathering, at least three times … and it’s still empty. (Or, the few folks who signed up did so out of what...
By now you may have seen the ill-fated Apple ad that accompanied the release of their new iPad. Entitled “Crush,” it showed artistic tools – musical instruments, paint and canvas, and all manner of whimsical creativity – literally being crushed into the “thinnest iPad yet.” ...