We fight the “gun battle” in many ways. Some hurl statistics like darts, trying to puncture the other side’s position. Their opponents are adept at this, too, reminding us: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics”…
Americans with disabilities face unemployment and poverty rates twice the national average
The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush July 26, 1990. For the first time in U.S. history, an invocation was offered at such an event. Harold Wilke, a minister in the United Church…
The Oscars slap and the scapegoating of women
For the last week, the now infamous Oscars slap has reverberated throughout our lives, providing endless fodder for late-night shows, Twitter feeds, podcasts and memes (so many memes!). No demographic has escaped the sensational story — my elementary school son…
A Christian’s Guide to Planet Earth
What’s your earliest memory in nature? For many of us it occurred right outside our childhood homes. For me, I was wrist deep in dirt, sitting uphill from a creek lined with oaks and willows. With my mom’s garden shovel,…
Spring hats, strength and sisterlocks
Special occasions like Easter, spring teas and mature weddings find many women shopping for hats. I’ve lived all my life in Northern California and love wearing hats to these events. But I’m definitely in the minority here. If you’ve ever…
Why I still consider myself an evangelical
Have you noticed that some Christians behave as if they are against Christianity? I wonder if the people around us see our brand of Christianity as something they don’t need or want in their lives. For example, in 2018 and…
10 suggestions for welcoming a new pastor
When a congregation welcomes a new pastor, it is an exciting time for both the congregation and the minister. To maximize this new beginning, it is important to prepare spiritually, cognitively and emotionally for a new chapter. Once a call…
The temptation of a single story
Many of us who call ourselves Christians are currently navigating Lent, a 40-day season of penitence, repentance, forgiveness, reframing. I wouldn’t generally characterize Lent a wildly popular season, mostly because it is an invitation that calls us away from the…
Ukraine’s just war
At one level, the Christian debate about the morality of war is ancient and timeless. Juxtaposed against the ubiquitous warfare of human history stands Jesus Christ, who taught enemy-love, nonretaliation and peacemaking, and went to his death on the Cross…
Are brown-skinned migrants waiting at the border less worthy of asylum than white-skinned Ukrainians?
The images from Ukraine are horrific. Our hearts are broken by such widespread destruction and indiscriminate warfare. Many folks alive today never have witnessed war at quite this scale. The fact that it seems so unprovoked and unjust makes it…
A thief strikes Bubba-Doo’s
Have you ever walked into a place, read the room and known instantly that something was off? A stop by my favorite old country store the other day was one of those times. I stepped through the door and could…
Autocracy as heresy
During the social revolution in South Africa that brought an end to the era of apartheid and a government of white supremacy, Allan Boesak, a Black South African theologian, wrote, “Apartheid is heresy.” And not only that, he later wrote,…