In a post-pandemic world, the church, in the words of Mark Twain, may need to declare, “The rumors of my death are grossly exaggerated.” While it is true that many struggling churches may close, merge or re-purpose in the near…
Life lessons from speaking with a foreign accent
What we know today to be the traditional “Asian accent” tells the story of Asian American assimilation in essence. The generation of Asian immigrants before us possessed the accent that white Americans saw as the most foreign in comparison to…
The Christian citizen: Gospel, conscience and dissent
E Pluribus Unum, the founders declared of their new American Republic, “Out of Many, One.” From 13 furiously independent and diverse colonies would come “one nation,” (“under God,” we would add much later), “with liberty and justice for all.” It…
Let’s help evangelical Christians break free of the shame that drives them
As a child, I possessed a somewhat fearful disposition toward the world. After a few years of tearful late-night sit-ins outside my biological father and his new wife’s locked bedroom door, or screaming near-weekly announcements to the employees of my…
Reflections on the 19th Amendment and the pace of change
What commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment this year has shown me is that profound change can take an inordinate amount of time, but it doesn’t have to. The 19th Amendment was first introduced in 1878, but it…
In times like these, who wouldn’t love to receive a handwritten letter?
Handwriting is capable of traveling around the world, enduring the harrowing journey of postal automation, weather and human error to reach its destination. It’s known to survive many generations of readers. Just about everyone has saved a letter, recipe or…
What does the SBC tell us about America’s future?
I hope the way the Southern Baptist Convention fell apart 40 years ago is not a picture of what will happen in America, but the parallels are scary. What was the SBC and what is the United States of America…
We’ve misunderstood Darwin about who survives
Charles Darwin has done a real number on us, hasn’t he? But it’s not his evolutionary theory that is the problem. Fifteen billion years instead of 6,000 should be more evocative of anything divine than destructive of it. Who (besides…
Report from home: The parents are not all right
Here’s the thing: The parents are not all right.
We’ve been at this unprecedented pandemic-parenting for more than five months, and there is no visible nightlight at the end of this dark and uncertain tunnel.