First Words
Becoming less defensive about white privilege
The Christian faith provides some tools for letting go of our defensiveness.
What I’d like to say to President Trump about the Bible
I’d tell him a secret I learned from Eugene Peterson.
Pentecost is the truest conspiracy
The church can conspire—breathe together—to bring goodness into the world.
Churches obsessed with their right to reopen are missing the point
Genuine Christian faith is larger than the US Constitution.
Grab a book. It’s good for your health.
That’s one good thing about sheltering in place.
The coronavirus pandemic is nurturing neighborliness
We seem to be relearning the social benefits of building community with our not-so-close neighbors.
Looking for constancy when routines are disrupted
I’ve been thinking about a French horn teacher I once had.
The resource we most need during the coronavirus pandemic is human relationship
Looking for signs of hope when social distancing keeps us apart
Death and the grace of “it is finished”
At a recent funeral, some churchgoers were surprised by my choice of texts.
Why we need the grime of Ash Wednesday
Like the sludge on a car in the winter, most of our messes accumulate gradually.
Loving your political enemy at the National Prayer Breakfast
Arthur Brooks gave the room an important assignment. President Trump turned it down.
When we advertise our righteousness, it becomes self-righteousness
What we can learn from the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector
Adopted and loved
One of the greatest mysteries of faith is that God loves us as is.
A legacy of wealth amid scarcity
The abundance of giving
Has family become an idol?
The Bible gives no sense that the family is an end in itself.
Cultivating uncertainty
Marilynne Robinson calls it “a form of reverence.”
What mercy in the criminal justice system could look like
What if all were extended the gift of a second chance?
To avoid risk, don’t get close to God
Sometimes faith is like encountering a grizzly bear.
Our legislators’ silence is a failure of moral courage
Margaret Chase Smith and Abraham Lincoln modeled a better way.
“Self-interest seemed almost omnipotent”
Langdon Gilkey’s account of his imprisonment during WWII is a study in how humans act under pressure.