All of life is subject to theological reflection, but we should discern carefully what garners our attention. Choosing to reflect on how women should be controlled rather than on current events that are life and death for many persons in the United States is unwise and unfruitful.
Remembering a staff colleague prompts questions about healthy church staffs
I’m conducting a memorial service this week for a former staff colleague, and it has caused me to give thought to what makes for a healthy relationship between ministerial staff members. Ken Denton was, for 24 years, the gifted minister…
In the present moment: afraid to speak, afraid to be silent
Since that disturbing Oval Office pronouncement there have been thousands of opinions written across the political spectrum, endless hours dedicated to punditocracy in the marketplace, countless words of pulpiteering offered by the Church. And I’ve been afraid to speak.
The apple does not fall far from the tree: Women’s rights, my mother and me
La versión en español está disponible aquí. Last week my mother died unexpectedly. She was 86 years old, and had struggled with Alzheimer/dementia for the last 12 years. This sickness advances slowly and gradually, and little by little family and…
De tal palo, tal astilla: los derechos de la mujer, mi mamá y yo
An English version is available here. La semana pasada mi mamá murió inesperadamente. Tenía 86 años y había batallado con Alzheimer/demencia durante los últimos doce años. Esta enfermedad avanza lenta y gradualmente, y poco a poco la familia y amistades…
Marching toward the future for gender equality
Flowing like a pink river, scores of women in their trademark headgear marched all over the world, just as they did a year ago. Carrying signs with urgent messages, the generations took to the streets to bring attention to the…
The day life changed for a legal immigrant — and his church
I’ve never felt so helpless as a pastor as I did on Tuesday, Jan. 9, the day Gilles was unexpectedly detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. I couldn’t do anything to stop the horrifying set of events that was about to happen that was going to change Gilles’ life.
Breaking out: crossing the lines of old denominational structures
When done from an unhealthy place, these new alliances have the ring of old retailers like Sears or Kmart who can no longer compete in the marketplace of ideas. But when done out of conviction about the needs for the unity of the church in responding to an increasingly indifferent post-Christendom society, they strike me as creative, inventive and hopeful.
Looking into the heart of racism and responding with … love
Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the fight for justice and equality must continue, but he also knew that no protest or law or court battle can change a heart. What can is love, but not just any kind of love.
My father, the born-again socialist
In his formative years, my father encountered two religious options. One was forward-looking and optimistic, hoping for better days ahead; the other was nostalgic and pessimistic, resigned to the imminent end of the world. Like most North American Christians, my father was a product of both visions: one influenced his religion, the other his politics.
Out of Africa: White supremacy and the Church’s silence
At this moment in history, how can American Christians, themselves deeply divided over scripture, doctrine, sexuality, abortion, and other culture war accoutrements, foster a common compulsion to speak out against white supremacist fiction before it gains an even stronger implicit or explicit influence?
Looking for clues to thriving faith communities in a post-Christendom church
What characterizes a sort of Western “underground” church doing well within a larger context of the church having been pushed to the margins of society?