Not long ago, our evangelical brothers (and some sisters) seemed to like this passage a lot. So did the previous presidential administration. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and…
Confessions of a white preacher
Two stories. Two young men. One white. One black. It was a number of years ago now. I was a pastor in the suburbs of Washington, in a multiethnic congregation of people from the very poor to the quite wealthy….
God’s gift of love: What do we do now?
Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. … Take hold of the life that really is life. — 1 Timothy 6:12-19 Pursue … love … gentleness. Loving with gentleness can be a struggle in the world of today. “Natural selection,”…
The problems with Hamas, Gaza, Israel (and America?)
The Hamas problem This is a terrorist organization. The tragedy of Oct. 7 with 1,200 murders of mostly women, children and innocent Israeli civilians, the atrocities committed, the ongoing terror of the remaining hostages along with continued rocket attacks make…
The vice and the cure
Livy, the great poet of Rome, once said: “We have reached the point where we cannot bear either our vices or their cure.” As was true for the Romans, so it is for us. The political and social fabric of…
A well-regulated militia: Gun owners of the nation, unite!
My father gave me a .22 rifle for my 16th birthday. We shot it together at empty plastic milk containers for target practice far out of town. After heading off to college, my birthday rifle sat on a shelf for…
A risky experiment: Justice, freedom and compassion in America
Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit…
How Karl Barth speaks to our post-pandemic needs
The pandemic has changed us. At a minimum, the last 15 months have awakened us to our vulnerabilities. So as the post-pandemic world begins to peek over the horizon, we’ve also become painfully aware of the deepening and widening division…
Pandemic plans: Keep on coping
We have been battling COVID-19 for a year. 2020 already stands unique in the annals of our memories. And 2021 seems to continue the trend. Hospitals, schools, universities, churches, stores, restaurants … no destination or gathering place has been immune…