As I sat around a table with a group of women, all of whom were either clergy or clergy wives, we began discussing the difficulties of creating a life around ministry. We all had different stories, different moments in our…
Please pay attention to the plight of transgender children and their families
Here’s something I’ve learned along the way: Good people are too busy with their lives and the pandemic and watching the war in Ukraine to get involved in the plight of transgender children and their families under attack right now….
I’m aiming for a kind of fresh resolve to no longer continue producing solutions for the future based on problems from the past
It isn’t at all novel to admit this to you, dear reader, but New Year’s resolutions are gratingly unbearable; even under the best conditions. But I must say that this year, there is a uniquely hollow and darkly comedic quality…
Congress must invest in American families and communities
The United States Congress is currently considering a series of bold investments in American families and communities that will better enable all of us to pursue our God-given potential while protecting the most vulnerable in our society. As a Baptist pastor and as…
The pandemic of the unclaimed dead
“Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.” —…
‘I don’t think I care about anything anymore’: How to be anxious and depressed during the end of the world
My son is 6 years old and in the first grade. He loves Lego, Harry Potter, outer space and finishing books as soon as he gets them. Inexplicably, my son maintains this stubborn inquisitiveness about the world around him even…
What will become of Sunday school?
A decade ago, while on a sabbatical research project, I visited 15 churches of various denominations across the United States that bore only one common trait — they were in some way “traditional” churches. Even among that group, one of…
Indiana wants Supreme Court to let it deny parental rights to same-sex couples
While same-sex couples already were fretting that a new conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court could turn the legality of future marriages back to the states, a more sinister threat to families has emerged from Indiana. On Nov. 23,…
5 ways to make the holidays meaningful in 2020
This year is, without a doubt, unlike any other. The daily events happening on a personal, professional and political level are enough to make all of us want to disappear from time to time. As we look ahead to the…