In American Christianity the broken bones of individual and collective division desperately need resetting.
On the border: ‘Children of a lesser god’
If Christians in America cannot raise our collective voices against our government’s treatment of these “little ones,” then we’re the ones who serve a “lesser god.”
The Wrong Kind of Jesus: From Symbol to Substance
Distinguishing Right Jesus and Wrong Jesus is hard, especially when a weaponized Christ is used – right and left of center – to intimidate or exclude each other.
The Spirit and the gifts, for the moment and for the long haul
It’s the Spirit that turns skills into gifts. Spiritual gifts can be perpetual or fluid, required at the moment or for the long haul. Gifts come and go. It’s the Spirit that remains.
Hear our prayer, O Congress: A neo-establishmentarianism?
Events surrounding the dismissal and rehiring of “Father Pat” are more than a mere legislative kerfuffle. They provide important contemporary lessons in the enduring dynamics of church-state relations — old tensions, new twists.
Waffle House, Starbucks — and the Church?: Iconic and vulnerable
In the deadly flash of that AR15, Kenny Peavy’s iconic “welcoming sanctuary,” joined the interminable company of schools, churches, schools, concerts, schools, and other once-but-no-longer-safe-places in the United States.
Signature ministries: ‘The art of human contacts’
The Catholic Worker Movement, one of the most important Christian social ministries of the modern era, began in 1933 in New York during the Great Depression. The founders, Catholic Peter Maurin and journalist/Catholic convert Dorothy Day initiated the movement, Day…
‘Give Me Jesus.’ (But which one?)
“Give me Jesus” is a simple but never simplistic confession of faith. It complicates quickly, forcing us to ask, “Which Jesus?” given the many explanations, impressions and orthodoxies for who Jesus was and is, a challenge existing from the Church’s beginnings.
A rebirth of compassion?
A rebirth of compassion is inseparable from conversion, not as Jesus vaccination, but as a continuing religious experience with the resurrected Christ. We encounter a rebirth of our identity as followers of the Jesus Way, a compassion that compels us to revisit the meaning of the gospel at every human/humane turn.
Good Friday 2018: Listening to Jesus and MLK
Pairing Jesus’ last seven words with statements by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrates that while Jesus’ death carries unique spiritual and theological import for the church, King’s assassination is a continuing reminder of the prophetic significance of martyrs and martyrdom in Christian life and history.
‘Anticipatory mourning’: America’s youth on death, guns and dissent
We’ve ritualized death away from the young in this culture, in funeral homes and hospice facilities, but it has overtaken them with a vengeance in what were once safe spaces for learning.
Baptist brokenness: Reconciliation and revolution
I am sick to death of decades of our ceaseless inability to avoid personal, spiritual and communal schism in our churches and ourselves. Truth to tell, however, 2,000 years of Christian history illustrate that the same Jesus Story that unites all Christ’s church often drives it apart. I’ve often teased that “Baptists multiply by dividing.” It’s not funny anymore. Never was.