Seeking out the truth has seldom been more urgent for Americans than it is now. We possess more factual information than any generation in human history yet differ over the most basic propositions. The dichotomy threatens our future. Truth makes…
One year after Jan. 6, some things are worth dividing over
In his classic work Why I Am a Christian, the late Anglican theologian John Stott prophetically penned gloomy words that, at the time, mostly fell on deaf ears. “The technocratic society, which diminishes and even destroys transcendence and significance,” Stott…
How Hagar shows us the meaning of divine motherhood
When thinking about the importance of motherhood in the Bible, many readers can name a few women who mothered prominent sons throughout Israelite and Jewish history. Women like Mary or Sarah, whose stories are well-known in Sunday school classes and…
Dis-membered denominations: Forgetting who we are
In 1990, in God’s Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention, I wrote: Growing up Southern Baptist once seemed relatively easy. Elaborate denominational programs created a surprising uniformity among an otherwise diverse and highly individualistic constituency….
The limits of my right to be unlimited
Some time ago a number of people — I among them — were troubled by a cell phone TV ad that projected the idea that, “I need, no, I have the right to be unlimited.” The disturbing aspect for me…
Thoughts on crossing the threshold to a new year
When I was a boy, it happened every New Year’s morning. My father would wake me up early and we would get in his truck and set out to meet most of his seven brothers for coffee and conversation at…
What to do when the neighbors are loud
Imagine the opening scene of Love Actually in Hugh Grant’s voice: “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in…
Let’s form a phalanx to defeat COVID
Due to the recent spike in COVID infections in New York City, our church has returned, once again, to virtual-only services. It was the right thing to do. It was the smart thing to do. But it also was the…
What if there were an ‘in memoriam’ for people like us?
On the evening of Dec. 30, NBC concluded the national news with its annual “In Memoriam” segment for 2021. Some 90 singers, musicians, composers, actors, filmmakers, television personalities, professional and amateur athletes, coaches and managers, writers, and even an Apollo…
This Christmastide, don’t stop with Baby Jesus
The birth story of Jesus has plenty to offer Christians during Christmastide — stunned shepherds, angelic visitations, mysterious visitors from the East, an inn with no room, and a manger. Even though there’s plenty to love, Christians ought to continue…
Facing white Christianity’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection
On Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden became the first commander in chief to use the words “white supremacy” in an inaugural address. Naming “the cry of racial justice 400 years in the making” and its corollary, “a rise in…
2021 BNG reading: These are a few of my favorite things
Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens; Bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens; Brown paper packages tied up with string; These are a few of my favorite things. Mark Wingfield used this song from The Sound of Music to…