Yesterday morning in worship we sang three Christmas carols because, officially, the season does not end until January 6th. It is always fun (but strange) singing carols into January even though much of the decorations are gone and everyone else…
What I have said about torture since 2006
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee In Fall 2005, while I was teaching at Union University, and two years before I moved here to Mercer University, the editors of Christianity Today magazine asked me to write an analysis of the…
The dark intersection of technology and sexuality
By John Chandler This fall, the Pew Research Center projected that we will see robotic prostitutes by 2025. In the words of University of Tennessee law professor and author Glenn Harlan Reynolds, “Terminator robots won’t stalk the earth massacring humans;…
Four New Year’s resolutions for every small town church
The time of the year for New Year’s resolutions has come. Most people make resolutions and end up breaking them quickly. Whether kept or not, the habit of New Year’s resolutions in our culture speaks to humanity’s desire for new…
Lessons from a suicide letter
Yesterday, 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn killed herself. She was a transgender girl who walked out in front of a semi-truck. After reading the suicide letter she left behind on Tumblr, I felt like I had to do something.
Love’s detour
“And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road” (Matthew 2:12). What would a Christmas pageant be without the three Wise Men?
Who do you want to be? (Part 4 in the series, God moved into the neighborhood)
If you spend much time listening closely to modern pop music you will quickly come to discover that one of the themes of this age is “be true to yourself.”
The race problem: when you’re tired of eating elephant
By Starlette McNeill Someone asked the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” Someone else answered, “One bite at a time.” I don’t know who eats elephant or thinks that they can eat it all. I never have and don’t…
Light to live by (Part 3 in the series, God moved into the neighborhood)
Have you ever gotten unwanted advice? If you’re like me, you’re not much up for getting advice you didn’t seek. Unless, that is, the advice comes from an expert. Imagine that you were at a park somewhere cooking some hamburgers…