Dear Graduates, It is possible to live a life other than your own. In other words, you have one life. You can choose to do anything you want and study and learn whatever you want. People, places, things and thoughts…
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword: A Mennonite legacy
I know very little about my family history, partly because it is so complicated. My ancestors came to Canada and the United States from Scotland, England, Sweden and Germany (and who knows where else). It’s easy to get tangled up…
A Southerner living in a foreign land — Brooklyn
“Yankee” was a term of derision in my fourth grade class. When the teacher announced, “We have a new student who just moved to Mississippi from New York,” we looked on his poor little lost soul with pity. The progressive…
When ‘Satan goes to a prayer meeting’
I love prayer. Despite the popularity of social media, status updates and tweets do not compare to sharing a prayer request with God. There is no better connection. The fact that we can be in direct dialogue with the Divine,…
Facing the worst in ourselves, and learning grace
Lindy West is a writer who says that she is trolled constantly. “Trolling” is the practice of posting online in a deliberately offensive or provocative way to elicit an angry response. For West, nasty tweets and emails are a daily…
The wisdom of admitting failure
Recently a professor at Princeton wrote about his professional disappointments and went so far as to publish a “CV of failures.” He bravely posted degree programs he did not get into and academic positions for which he was rejected. He…
A church myth that needs to die
Every church has a few persistent traditions and myths that just will not die. Some are unique to a particular church, like these that I’ve encountered: “Our youth group only goes on retreats to Happy Valley Camp. All other options…
Gun violence: An interview with Lorraine
It began as a normal day. After finishing breakfast Lorraine placed a peck on the cheek of her husband, uttered a quick “I love you,” before heading out to the grocery story to purchase milk to replenish the jug emptied…
Beware when religion makes you feel nostalgic
I hear it all the time — nostalgia for the “olden days.” For some, it’s the innocence of childhood, for some it’s the boom-time of the 1950s or the 1990s. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,…
The shame is mine: ‘Roots’ 2016
This week I was one among the millions who watched A&E’s powerful and devastating “re-imagination” of the epic miniseries Roots, brought to the small screen for a new audience against the not-so-new backdrop of this, the latest iteration of the…
Letting go of the illusion of superhero pastor
It has been two months now since I made a spreadsheet for a cost analysis of commercial rolls of toilet paper and paper towels. Did you know that rolls of paper that tear off in neatly perforated, individual sheets cost…
At an ordination, a reminder that Jesus remains agonizingly relevant and radical
On June 20, 1971, I was ordained to the gospel ministry — so the ordination certificate reads to this day. I reread it from time to time, still wondering what in the world it means to be a gospel minister….