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…
Hope for a new year out of the historical disunity of our United States
It’s not about Donald Trump. Nor did our current dis-unity start with him. In his excellent book, American Nations, Colin Woodard shares helpful insights into what lies at the heart of much of our current public discontent: We began this…
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and necessary grace
No one should be surprised. These divisive times we currently endure remain strikingly similar to this nation’s very beginnings. Yes, the current administration continues to break norms and in now predictably unpredictable fashion. It provokes disdain, sows discord, stokes anger…
Will our common vulnerabilities in this moment lead us to unite for the common good?
Perhaps this global pandemic will gather in each of us a calm assurance, having become so weary of our vices, we finally embrace our cure – by embracing one another.
Prophetic apologies are coming from a surprising source – law enforcement; churches should pay attention
The prophets’ call to “heal the earth” is being awakened in surprising places — like police forces.
This Advent let’s reclaim the power of prophecy
As we celebrate Jesus’ birth, let us more fully imitate his life. That means reclaiming the power of prophecy. Doing so could make this Advent season more of an adventure than we ever imagined.