You think America has problems? Spend a week or two in Lebanon, and you’ll get a taste of what real — as in existential — problems are. Even Scrooge would sympathize. Imagine scrounging barely enough food to eat once, maybe…
Could Jesus be coming to us again in the guise of an Afghan child?
You know what I’m grateful for this year as Advent comes? A home. Not just a roof over my head or a house with electricity and running water. I’m thankful for a national home, an imperfect but beloved country, a…
Listen for a change
White guys sporting ball caps and goatees, driving loud pickup trucks. You know the type. They’re everywhere, especially in the South. They get on my nerves, bigtime. Lately, I’ve found myself assuming they’re all obnoxious Trumpers — and probably racist…
9/11 at 20: The ongoing choice between fear and love
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was flying into Cairo with my photographer partner to do a magazine coverage on that vast, ancient city. Gazing at the Giza pyramids from the air on approach, we had no clue about the horror…
Looking for love in digital places: My adventures with online dating
Her online handle was “Blonde Biohazard.” Her Perfect Match: “Just looking for someone who isn’t Jack the Ripper, has a pulse and can look at life in a humorous way. Must like music, have two brain cells to rub together…
Why do we obsess over single tragic events and ignore the greater peril?
Since the moment the 12-story Champlain Towers condominiums partially collapsed June 24 in Surfside, Fla., the tragedy has topped the news — hourly, daily, exhaustively. News outlets nationwide have breathlessly reported every updated body count, every revised tally of the…
On Roger Williams, freedom of conscience and its (sometimes well-intentioned) enemies
I don’t like being told what to do, think or say. You got a problem with that? I know that sounds excessively pugnacious and not very Christian, considering the ugly divisions and hatreds roiling Americans in recent years. But I…
Call your Momma
She died 20 years ago this month, on Mother’s Day. Shirley Ann Bridges, nee Solter. My mother. She died three months short of her 70th birthday, which was a pretty good span, considering she smoked Salem cigarettes one after another…
Buckle up: Global turbulence ahead
As much as we might wish otherwise, living in the post-COVID world promises to be a pretty rough ride over the next 20 years. So buckle up. Not just because of the global impact of the pandemic itself, but because…
Finding our way out of the rubble
Lent isn’t over just yet, and we could do with a bit more reflection and repentance as a church and a nation. But spring is arriving. I can see it dawning over the horizon, pinkish yellow as it seeps into…
Maybe your church needs a minister of loneliness
I deliver Meals on Wheels on Fridays. My routes vary, but the people I serve tend to be older, low-income, often disabled, living alone. That fits the profile of a typical Meals on Wheels client: The program seeks to assist…
The two Georges, the world and American leadership
Amid the recent tumult of events, the 100th birthday of George P. Shultz Dec. 13 passed relatively unnoticed. As did his death Feb. 6. But attention must be paid. Shultz was one of the ultimate “inside the Beltway” guys, those…