Opinion

I recently mentioned from the pulpit that we’d been invited to participate in a conversation with other pastors called “The Church in the Age of Donald Trump.” The next day I got a very nice, but concerned email: “Did you…

Matthew’s Gospel offers a simple sentence summary of Jesus’ message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (or “is at hand”). Some Jesus scholars think of him as a Jewish apocalyptic prophet announcing the imminent arrival of God’s…

I ran into someone the other day who had just returned from the Women’s March in Washington and she had with her a poster from the march. As she unrolled it to show me she said, “I’m so glad I…

This week, I was moved to read two very different books. First, inspired by the MLK holiday weekend, I read a collection of Dr. King’s prayers. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I felt a personal need to…

If religion were a thing that money could buy the rich would live, and the poor would die (Bahamian folk song) Darren Grem wrote The Business of Blessing before Donald Trump’s stunning electoral triumph, but the book helps explain the…

“We must change the method but not the message.” This has been the aim of recent generations of Christian leaders. Desiring to “reach the lost for Christ,” we developed radio, television and now social media ministries. We wear skinny jeans…

Bruce D. Perry is a renowned psychiatrist who published a book in 2007 called The Boy Who Was Raised As a Dog. The book is horrifying yet fascinating. Perry relates stories of children he has worked with who suffered neglect,…

I recently heard an interview with George Lois, a leader in the advertising world in the 1950s who helped revolutionize the industry. His innovations transformed advertising and made several of his clients into household names. I found his comments about…

I need you, you need me — we’re all a part of God’s body. Stand with me; agree with me — we’re all a part of God’s body. It is His will that every need be supplied. You are important…

Two years ago, Carol and I started attending a nearby African Methodist Episcopal Church. One other white person came from time to time. I liked it more when she was not there, because I enjoyed saying, “We were the only…