In 1993, AT&T launched an ad campaign now famous for its accuracy about future technologies. The ad showcased video calls, tablet computers, eBooks, personal GPS navigation and the digital classroom. The central theme was the erasure of space. When checking…
Three ways family ties hinder us in our faith
The “faith of our fathers” offers a nice American ideal, but it also has become one of the key reasons adults fail to respond to the work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. Those are likely startling words…
The Whore of Babylon: Pimping the Body of Christ to the highest political bidder
“God is on our side” has led to more bloodletting in the form of crusades, wars, colonialism and genocides than any other human caused catastrophe — a truth in which all faith traditions have, at one time or another, participated. All churches have played the “whore,” falling into the temptation of tailoring the liberative Good News to sell a political ideology or party as ordained by God.
Vote with our actions, love with our voices
If I asked which presidential candidate has been described as being “aided and abetted by the powers of darkness,” about whom would you guess this quote is referring too? Where might the quote have come from? Does the quote seem…
The parable of the black life
In his 2015 book Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes to his son, “In America it is tradition to destroy the black body. It is heritage.” Ever since I read, re-read and re-read again those words, I have…
Embracing the power of what we don’t yet know
Can we resist our native evangelical bent for clarity, certainty, closure, purity, decisiveness and (yes) judgment — at least long enough to simultaneously value listening, nuance, creativity and (yes) the fresh wind of the Spirit?
Grounded enough to notice when Jesus shows up
I love the city. I first fell in love with metropolitan life as a 20-something pastor in San Francisco. Now, years later, while I still retreat to the mountains or desert or ocean for some extra peace and inspiration, “urban”…
‘Old’ is just a new word
I was recently hit by a trio of insults regarding my age. Let me just say that for the purposes of this column, you don’t need to know how old I am. It is none of your business. (OK, if…
Nonviolence and a different future with God
“Deliver us from evil.” Most Sundays we pray these words, but rarely do they sound the resonance we hear in these anarchic days. Evil seems unrelenting, incapable of exhausting its ravenous power. Who can withstand its voracious appetite for destruction?
Following Christ in our public and political lives
I get nervous about declarations that our current times are the “most” anything in human history. So I hesitate to say our current situation is the “most” critical time to engage contemporary issues in the church.
Retweeting mercy in the midst of darkness
In her July 10 message at the House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber retells the story of the Merciful Samaritan. The message is timely, coming as it does on the heels of a week —…
Dear non-racist white people: stop saying we’re not racist
In so many ways, we are still experiencing the beginning birth pains of an integrated America. In some ways, we’ve made significant and hopefully irreversible progress. In other ways, it might as well be the first day of integration or the mad years of Jim Crow.