By Aileen Lawrimore What if, for you, it’s actually not the most wonderful time of the year? What if it’s your first Christmas (or your 51st) without your beloved? What if you’re fighting physical, mental or emotional illness? Or what…
A chance encounter on a train
By Derik Hamby This past May I traveled to a preaching conference in Denver. To save expenses I stayed outside the city and traveled in on light rail each morning and back each evening. The trip lasts about 45 minutes…
Climate translation and Paris COP21
By Scott Stearman In a meeting I attended at the Council on Foreign Relations, David Sandalow made a semi-funny 2-degree joke about climate change. Sandalow is a fellow at Columbia University and a former Undersecretary of Energy. He participated in…
Is congregational vision written then experienced or experienced then written?
By George Bullard Is a vision best when written or best when experienced? Yes, and it depends. But, let’s go deeper. Think about your dreams during your sleep last night. Yes, you dreamed, but you may or may not remember…
‘I beg to differ’
By Jayne Hugo Davis “When I light a candle at midnight, I say to the darkness, ‘I beg to differ.’” This quote is attributed to an unnamed philosopher in the first century. I don’t know what caused this person to…
Santa, Elmo and Jesus
By R. Kevin Johnson Over Thanksgiving dinner this year, our friends asked my wife and me about striking a balance between secular and sacred influences during the holidays. They wanted to know about the “magical” part of this season and…
Which cross is being embraced in Advent?
By Seth Vopat Advent is a season of tension for me. Not because I struggle to proclaim “Immanuel” — God with us — in a season marred by tragedy and violence. The tension is not the result of Christmas consumerism…
Church community and ubiquitous doughnuts
By Kenneth Meyers This is the ninth article in a nine-part series on empowering a faith community to impact the world. Previous articles can be found here. Is your congregation missing the cherished familial fellowship and sweet spirit of church…
The urgency of mercy
By Molly T. Marshall Pope Francis is in the news once again; actually, is he ever not in the news? He has declared the coming year to be a Jubilee Year, a year where mercy triumphs over judgment. Walking through…
Educating healthy ministers outside ‘The Bubble’
By Kate Riney I am a proud product of distance learning. I was homeschooled until my sophomore year of high school, when I entered public school at age 13. Yes, I was that kid. The homeschooler. I heard it all…
Can prayer be abusive?
By Laura Rector A conservative Christian man “prayerfully” spanks his spouse as Christian “discipline.” A Christian institution “prays” for those who lose their jobs in a restructuring. A Christian employer uses prayer to promote going along with an agenda, rather…
Governments have worldviews, too
By Jonathan Waits So apparently John Kasich, Ohio governor and longshot Republican presidential candidate, wants to create a government agency tasked with spreading the values and morals of the Judeo-Christian worldview. Let’s start by calling this what it is: a…