Recently I had the privilege of attending a presentation at the Yale Club in New York City to hear a report on the project that seeks to ascertain what it means to live a well-lived life. At the heart of…
Worship: Good for what ails you
Reflecting on the recent annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance in Vancouver, British Columbia, I was struck by two things: The deep hunger in my own life for corporate worship and the centrality of worship in our common life….
Relax your grip and you can go for miles
For most of my vocational life I’ve had to do battle with the overwhelming need to prove myself. This may have something to do with where I land on the Enneagram. As my fellow Threes will testify, “I succeed, therefore…
Genius hesitates, both in science and religion
In his fantastic little book, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, a kind of primer on modern physics meant for lay readers, Carlo Rovelli tells the story about how in 1905, a 26-year-old graduate student named Albert Einstein published three short…
Can Baptists be both committed to the message of Christ and active in political matters?
Jeremiah tells the people of the Babylonian Exile that God is calling them to settle in the region. “Go ahead and get married. Buy a house. Join the PTA, the YMCA, a local church.” Essentially, Jeremiah says, “Be all in. Hold nothing back.”
What if we ‘promoted’ in adult Sunday school again?
Decades ago, even among churches that retained adult Sunday school, we adults stopped promoting. More accurately, we adults refused to keep promoting. We put down our feet and said we would not move any more. We wanted to stay where we were.
Wondering what it’s like in Hillary’s shoes
Dear Hillary, This election year has me completely on edge, exhausted and frustrated, but I suppose you might be feeling some of that, too. Truth be told, I spend a lot of time thinking about you, but then, so does…
Are moderates/progressives confusing the ‘e’ word with the ‘E’ word again?
Many years ago my mother told me about a trip she took with a group of people to attend a national denominational training event. If you knew my mother, you would know she could hardly tell it without laughing. The…
Pursuing reverence in a society that doesn’t recognize it
In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks offered an assessment of one of the presidential candidates, noting, “He appears to have no ability to experience reverence which is the foundation of any capacity to admire or serve anything…
The problem with not talking about politics at church
Here’s the problem with saying we must never talk about politics at church: We immediately cede to politicians the right to define what is political and what is theological. And then the church loses its voice on theology because important…
Giving and receiving: Transformative gifts
Through the acts of giving and receiving, many miracles happen. Both the giver and the receiver become transformed.
Dar y recibir: Dones transformadores
A través del dar y recibir, muchos milagros se suscitan. Ambas, la persona que da, como la que recibe, son transformadas.