Yaakov Rotblit once wrote a lyric that has taken on a life far beyond its origins as a love song: “You took my hand in yours and said to me, ‘Let’s go down to the garden. … Things we see…
Keeping Easter alive means embracing the Truth
For some reason, we insist on complicating Jesus. The grave could not contain him. Yet we have the audacity to be believe our theology can. Our complicated theological pursuits have led to self-righteous, self-serving endeavors aimed at being “right” and…
Why Easter must reclaim its throne in American faith
There is a quiet contradiction in America, one that lives in our homes, our churches, our calendars and our consumer habits. It is the reality that the most theologically powerful moment in Christianity — the resurrection of Jesus Christ —…
A new generation of ambassadors for the cure to violence
We are living in violent and deeply troubling times. In New York City, a teenager raised in Philadelphia participated in an attempted terrorist attack on Gracie Mansion. According to security experts, the attack is part of a rising tide of…
Faith, captivity and the call to remember the imprisoned
Each spring, the sacred calendars of Judaism, Christianity and Islam draw us into stories of liberation, sacrifice and divine mercy. Passover, Easter and the rhythms of revelation in the Quran all echo a central truth: God is present with the…
When pastors mistake theological maturity for spiritual maturity
A pastor colleague recently told me something I can’t seem to shake: “If I’m not on staff, pastoring or preaching, I don’t go to church on Sundays. I’m just not a pew person.” At first, it sounded like honesty. The…
8,000 miles to escape death, only to meet it 5 miles from home
Days after being released from a year of detention, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a blind Rohingya refugee who had been released from Border Patrol custody and abandoned at a Tim Horton’s 5 miles away from his home in Buffalo, New York, was found dead. He had been in custody…
Why a theology focused only on the future is bad for the present
One of the key differences I’ve noticed between the United Methodist Church and the religion in which I was raised is the focus on now versus later — “later” being heaven, the afterlife, eternity. The theology of the UMC (or…
The Black Church teaches us not to rush past Good Friday
On Good Friday, many of the white churches move quickly. They acknowledge the Cross, they sometimes name the injustice, and — almost instinctively — begin inching toward Easter, toward hope, toward resurrection, toward resolution. They quickly leave Friday and rush…
The brain rot of CPAC 2026
I’m a week out from my first (and likely only) CPAC experience. It took me several days to recover — to exorcise the experience from my body and soul. I wrote a lengthy article about my takeaways from the event…
Imprecatory prayers: A theological-political caution
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Pastor Brooks Potteiger and other MAGA evangelicals are using imprecatory prayers asking God to kill their enemies. Should we be alarmed? A few examples of imprecatory prayers here and there don’t portend an outbreak in…
Apocalypse? Now?
In November 1095, Pope Urban II addressed a gathering of clergy and laity at the Council of Clermont in France. According to the chronicler Fulcher of Chartres, Urban began: “Most beloved brethren: Urged by necessity, I, Urban, by the permission…