If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree...
Doing the right thing is rarely the easy thing. Do the right thing, anyway. There are so many reasons to conclude that our world is spinning out of control. Many of us are nauseous from the noisy news cycles. Others are disillusioned by the disintegration of...
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant - St. David’s Day – is celebrated annually on March 1st. This Patron Saint of Wales isn’t widely known outside of his homeland. There are no parties, parades, or turning rivers green as for St. Patrick! While several miracles are attributed...
“How do we live a life of (un)successful significance rather than meaningless influence?” – Pete Portal The latest BARNA research has made the bold statement that “Americans are slowly edging away from Christianity.” Barna notes that, “Christian Identity is on the decline,” and “so is the importance...
…we are each other’s Harvest: We are each other’s Business: We are each other’s Magnitude and bond. ~Gwendolyn Brooks, “Paul Robeson,” 1970 These concluding words of Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “Paul Robeson,” hit me like a ton of bricks. Of course, we are each other’s harvest. WE collectively are what we communally and...
I read dissertations as part of my job, and so I regularly encounter language about God that is filled with theological abstractions and lofty speech. It’s painful. But the problem isn’t just with dissertations. I’m noticing similar tendencies these days in sermons, blogs, podcasts, and church...
Given the complexities and challenges facing faith communities, it is understandable that pastors and lay leaders look for a magic key that will open a clear path to the future. The temptations around this are legion. The expanding job descriptions for clergy, especially post-pandemic, make...
"For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known." - 1 Corinthians 13:12 Picasso's famous “The Old Guitarist”...
In a 1961 radio interview, writer and civil rights activist, James Baldwin famously explained, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious, is to be in a state of rage almost all of the time… It isn't only what is happening...