A week ago, I sat with a Palestinian shopkeeper in a country bordering Israel, drinking tea and watching nonstop Arab TV coverage of Israel’s retaliatory pounding of Gaza. Gazans ran in panic. Rescue workers screamed for ambulances and pulled dust-covered…
The Jesus Room
The Jesus Room lies in the bowels of Richmond’s cavernous First Baptist Church, one of those stately old churches that takes up most of a city block. It’s a part of the basement floor of the church, comprising a community…
Homeless is not the way you want to spend your sunset years, but more and more older Americans find themselves there
Scott, a 63-year-old former chef and factory worker, was trudging toward the tent encampment where he lived on the outskirts of Richmond, Va., when he found fellow camper Ed sprawled on the path, unconscious. “It scared the hootenannies out of…
In defense of travel
If you’re still thinking about a quickie vacation trip to Europe this summer, don’t. The COVID pandemic seems to be over (we hope), so tourists catching up on pleasure travel have descended upon the usual spots in their millions. Coastal…
Bar fights and honest conversations: How do we bridge the gap?
Confession: I’m a drinkin’ Baptist. That’s a dangerous combination, because Baptists love to argue, and alcohol loosens our tongues. Recently I almost got into a fistfight at my favorite bar with three guys — count ’em, three — at a…
Maybe Marie Kondo finally has come around to missionary Martha Myers’ mantra
Stop the presses: Marie Kondo, the “queen of clean,” confesses she can’t keep her own house perfectly pristine every single day. The 38-year-old mogul of a global “tidying up” empire is now the mother of three — her third child…
This will happen in 2023 (I think)
Predicting the future is a fool’s game. Right in my wheelhouse, in other words. Fools and pundits rush in where wiser souls fear to tread. With that boulder-sized grain of salt in mind, here are my predictions for 2023: Let’s…
Words, words, words
O words, how I love thee — when I’m not hating thee. What other product of the mind leads us to truth with one hand and deceives us with the other? What other human invention enlightens us and manipulates us,…
Michael Gerson: Voice of hope in an age of darkness
“The whole Christmas story is pregnant with enigma and violated expectations. The Creator pulls on a garment of blood and bone. Almighty God is somehow present in a fragile newborn. The deliverer of mankind is delivered, slimy with vernix, in…