“Kind of disturbing” is how journalist Katie Couric described an Axios piece about how Donald Trump built an insurmountable lead in Monday’s Iowa caucus by catering to evangelical MAGA pastors. “They say obviously they embrace Trump because of the Supreme Court justices who helped…
A passionate appeal for life vs. death in Gaza
I am the Tuesday designated driver, and this is the fifth and last week. I sit in the waiting room, waiting for my friend to have her radiation therapy treatment administered. The 150-mile roundtrip to Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute…
Now comes the darkness. Perhaps new hope lies beyond
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…
More violence will not produce peace
I am concerned about the current war in Gaza, Israel and Palestine because I care about life, justice, truth and peace as a follower, ordained minister and pastor of a congregation of people whose faith and living are inspired by…
On death
“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of…
A tough mind and a tender heart
Recently a pair of mourning doves chose a high shelf on the front of our home to build their nest. They flew back and forth for days, twigs in their beaks, cooing excitedly. When the delicate construction was complete, it…
Sudan’s worsening conflict raises alarm of another humanitarian crisis
More than 400 people have been killed and 3,500 injured after fighting broke out between Sudanese armed forces and a paramilitary unit in Khartoum and other parts of the northeastern African country. The violence has claimed the lives of three…
Pope Francis arrives in Africa on a two-nation tour seeking peace amid decades of conflict
Pope Francis arrived in Democratic Republic of Congo today, marking the first papal visit to the African nation since John Paul visited there in 1985 when the country was known as Zaire. This is the beginning of a six-day, two-nation…
The grace of wildness: Reflections on a new year
The church was full of birds; at least it was when I was there. In January 2005, for about a week, I went to mass at 5:00 every morning in the Catholic church across the street from the Mekong River…