During a particularly dry spell in my spiritual life characterized by a good-sized dose of cynicism and an overdose of institutionalized religion, I walked into the middle of a church service and found faith again. There was corporate song, public…
We know, but sometimes we wonder
We knew about a week ago that it might snow this past weekend, but ministers have to be in denial about it at least until Saturday afternoon. During the senior adult luncheon last Tuesday when the mere possibility of snow…
Fake news and fake gospels
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8, NRSV) For the time is coming when…
Church in the Age of Trump
Depending on who you talk to, last Wednesday morning we either woke up to a different world or we woke up to a depressingly predictable one. While none of the pollsters or aggregators really saw the results of this election…
Churches need to talk about sexual assault
Last Thursday, Michelle Obama delivered a stirring speech on sexual assault and harassment before her standard stump speech for Hillary Clinton. Her words were of the kind that should not have to be said; nevertheless, Obama gave the sermon many…
What if church doesn’t matter?
Americans are a remarkably faithful people when it comes to spirituality, yet they are simultaneously, remarkably faithless when it comes to institutional religion. Why? This perplexity borders on cliché since it has been true for a number of years, but…
The year clichés stopped making sense
There is something wrong with 2016. That may be the most self-evident and non-controversial statement to come up in your Facebook newsfeed in quite a while. In fact, it has become an almost universally acknowledged truth. So many of us…
Steady space in an unsteady world: Church and the power of place
In 1993, AT&T launched an ad campaign now famous for its accuracy about future technologies. The ad showcased video calls, tablet computers, eBooks, personal GPS navigation and the digital classroom. The central theme was the erasure of space. When checking…
Brexit, Trump and the Stranger
The news of the British referendum shook the world this week, sending financial markets into turmoil, prompting rage from British Millennials, and inspiring no small amount of fear in an American public. Few waited very long to draw comparisons between…