Editor’s note: Faith & Leadership offers sermons that shed light on issues of Christian leadership. A version of this sermon was preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on Sept. 13, 2015. Genesis 11:1-9; John 16:7-15 I’m going to start with…
What can we learn from Kentucky’s Rowan County clerk?
By General Counsel K. Hollyn Hollman For good or bad, a Kentucky clerk became the public face, complete with “Eye of the Tiger” soundtrack, for religious freedom claims relating to same-sex marriage. Following the Supreme Court’s marriage decision, the elected…
Yearning for soul
The best leaders engage with the deep trends shaping cultures and our broader world rather than reacting to fads and symptoms. Nathan Jones and I wrote about seven of those trends several years ago, and we still believe they are…
Bombs and balm
Recently declassified documents confirmed what many had long suspected, that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet ordered the 1976 assassination of former diplomat Orlando Letelier, along with his colleague, Ronni Karpen Moffit, in Washington, DC. This news is of especially personal…
Becoming inclusive
LKS * Born in Grant City, Mo., on 8/15/1938 * Graduated from Southwest Baptist College (Bolivar, Mo.) in 1957 (A.A.) * Graduated from William Jewell College (Liberty, Mo.) in 1959 (A.B.) * Graduated from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville,…
Southern communion
By Laura-Lee Kidwell Jones As a hospice chaplain, I am regularly asked, “Why do you visit with Alzheimer’s patients?” My standard answer includes, “Because perhaps they will know that someone is there and they will, possibly, for even a moment…
A border already crossed
Recent studies suggest that one out of four adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder. That equates to 50 million people in the United States, with 12 million falling in the “serious or chronic” category. This is equal to the…
The quotable Thomas Merton
My favorite definition of God is Thomas Merton’s: God is “mercy within mercy within mercy.” -Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB A special issue of ” Signs of the Times ” devoted to Thomas Merton (31 January 1915 – 10 December 1968)…
Too busy NOT to stop
Over 20 years ago, Bill Hybels wrote a terrific book, Too Busy NOT to Pray . In it he challenged our passive willingness to allow busyness to muscle out time for prayer in our daily schedules.
Kelly Gissendaner, the death penalty, and being pro-life
The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global…
If Jesus ran for president
First of all, I want to note that I don’t think Jesus would ever run for President of the United States. It wasn’t his thing. He didn’t come as a great political Messiah, and often he seemed ambivalent to the…
Pope Francis is good for Christianity
As Pope Francis visits the United States, Catholics are full of excitement as the Holy Father visits in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York. It is very clear that his leadership will set a very different tone for the Catholic Church….