A significant legacy requires a lifetime of paying attention to God, to others and to the shape of one’s commitments. I was in San Antonio when the news of Buckner Fanning’s death broke. Television stations and newspapers reported expansively on…
Before I die …
Our dreams should aim as high as possible. When the waitress brought our food I tried to find a way to ask, “How am I supposed to eat this?” I had to think fast. I came up with, “How am…
Where is the ‘I’ in ‘we’?
The charter of the United Nations begins with “We the people.” The U.N. is the one organization that ostensibly ties all of the world’s people together. And yet I’m sure that swaths of human beings don’t identify themselves as a…
What is slowing down the decline of many denominations?
As a group, established denominations are in decline for various reasons. Typically this happens when the collection of congregations in a denomination do not innovate the style of their ministry to present the substance of the gospel in a manner…
El intrincado camino al cuidado personal
Hasta Dios, después de trabajar arduamente para completar la creación, disfrutó de un día de descanso. An English version is available here. Ya estamos a la mitad del segundo mes de este año y todavía estoy evaluando el año pasado,…
The bumpy road to self-care
Even God, laboring hard to complete the work of creation, enjoyed a day of rest. La versión en español está disponible aquí. It is already the middle of the second month of this new year, and I am still evaluating…
The fallacy in opposing ‘bathroom bills’
Franklin Graham is wrong again — and, once again, giving a bad name to my religion and my church. We could hope that if a Christian minister with a worldwide voice (often mistaken for “the” Christian voice), was going to…
Idolatrous listening: A time-saving habit
I want you to pull my britches down …. Say again? And on cue, as if the song could read my thoughts. I heard the same line for a second time. Nightmare scenarios started running through my head involving my…
Polarization, public witness and the moral minority
Our increasingly polarized environment must not scare us away from proclaiming the values of the Kingdom of God. The Pew Research Center recently confirmed what my Facebook feed has made me suspect: the United States is becoming more and more…
Eggs, solidarity and imagination
On Monday morning, we have eggs with our breakfast. But on Tuesday — Martes Gordo, Fat Tuesday — we do not have eggs to add to our morning meal of bread and butter, juice, and coffee. I strive to connect…
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Springsteen and Lent, Part 2: The First Sunday in Lent
When I think of this week’s lectionary text from the book of Romans, I am always reminded of the now infamous comments of former Southern Baptist Convention president Bailey Smith. The year was 1987, and Smith was at a conference…