The church my wife and I have served since 2000 was founded 70 years ago as a Southern Baptist mission, a church plant in a neighborhood that had just been converted from a dairy farm. The founding pastor understood his…
When churches turn on themselves
When churches turn on themselves, things get very ugly very quickly. As if it weren’t already hard enough to be and do church in this culture, we face an exponential increase in internal congregational conflict and turmoil. American Christians are…
Talking about abortion is an opportunity to call on the grace of Jesus Christ
At the end of the day, my theology means very little until it touches the ground. I am an Episcopal priest, spiritual director and recovery coach, so my whole ministry rests inside the stories that are shared with me, the…
How the oldest American lie sustains our racial malaise
I have spent 50 years teaching college students from coast to coast and points in between, and while much has changed over the course of those 50 years, one thing has remained unchanged: the students’ abysmal ignorance of the negative…
Three words of hope for the church in transition
The words came out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying: “This is the only conversation that matters right now in the church.” I was teaching my adult Bible class Sunday morning, continuing a slow verse-by-verse exposition…
Leaving church: Grateful confessions from a dying pastor
Night falls. Sleep fails. It’s 3:00 a.m. My anxiety rises. My mind races. I’m wide awake again. Fatigue cannot describe the soul exhaustion I have felt for 18 months. The knots in my back tense with every toss and turn….
A home for outcasts or a keeper of the ‘sacred timeline’?
Recently my family and I have been watching Loki on Disney+. For those of you unfamiliar with the world of the Marvel universe, Loki is the god of mischief and an archvillain of the Avengers. At the beginning of the…
Paradoxical reflections on a significant birthday
Happy birthday to me. There, we got that out of the way. This week, I’m celebrating a “significant” birthday. It’s not round. It’s a gateway. My wife, Joanna, will celebrate the same-number feliz cumpleaños in five months. Because of those…
How the Constitution’s original religious freedom guarantee almost didn’t happen
On this day 234 years ago, the U.S. Constitution was signed and sent to the states for ratification, not only proposing a much-needed new system of government but also taking one of the first concrete steps to protect religious freedom….