April 27, 2008
Under the influence of radicalism
We borrow everything we believe from someone else. All of us are persuaded by the words and actions of others, and once we are persuaded, we build our lives around their beliefs. Whose words move you? Whose philosophy guides you?
April 20, 2008
Framing Stories: Bias and Truth
Every one of us adopts a framing set of beliefs that describe life's purpose and our duties. These framing stories may have been handed down to us by our elders or adopted from the library of modern secularism. They help us define truth and error. But how do we know our story can be trusted?March 27, 2008
Sin is our failure to conform to the purposes God created us for. Sin is like a malfunction that causes harm to ourselves and others. But God came up with a remarkable kindness to deal with our malfunctions.
March 11, 2008
Politics is fueled by discontent, but the governing dynamic of life in Christ is to be gratitude, because God has shown us mercy.
March 8, 2008
God is calling every one of us to abandon everything evil, everything sinful, everything unhealthy, everything that takes our attention away from God and his program. And he wants us to lean on each other for help.
March 1, 2008
February 16, 2008
January 9, 2008
"I'm for change" has become the rallying cry of the front runners in this year's election. Personally, I don't much like change, but the core of Jesus' message — his Good News and his New Covenant — was that it was time to change how we relate to God, and each other.
December 28, 2007
December 1, 2007
November 16, 2007
Living with a consistent, dogged commitment to moral principle is hard work, and very often it can be exasperatingly inconvenient.
November 14, 2007
Living with a consistent, dogged commitment to moral principle is hard work, and very often it can be exasperatingly inconvenient.
November 6, 2007
Dreams keep life interesting; they fuel a sense of expectation and wonder about life. We dream of love, of meaning and purpose, of life beyond death. Where do those dreams come from?
October 27, 2007
Discovering character in the Amazon
In 1913, former President Theodore Roosevelt began an expedition down an unknown river in the heart of the Amazon that would test the character of every member of his team.October 15, 2007
They say that we're all creatures of habit. We have habits of thinking, of belief, of bias and perspective. We're certain that we know what's real, and what isn't. But do we, really?
October 7, 2007
Drug use in sports is out of control. Cheating needs to be punished. Marion Jones says she is seeking God's forgiveness, and asks us to forgive her, too. Should we?
October 1, 2007
August 9, 2007
Something in the Greek ideal of the hero still resonates with us today. We honor heroic deeds; we make heroes the central characters in film and literature. Why? Perhaps because the essential terrors of human existence have changed so little since the days of the Greeks.
July 3, 2007
Barack Obama talks about faith
In a recent speech before a convention of the United Church of Christ, Senator Barack Obama had some impressive things to say about his Christian faith and how it informs his politics.June 21, 2007
May 10, 2007
Racial prejudice has become so ugly, so abhorrent, that we're tempted to simply wish it away. The early Christians found a better way — they left their bigotry at the foot of the cross.
April 15, 2007
Sometimes we miss God in the ordinary ebb and flow of life because the Ipod is turned up and we just can't hear a thing.
April 6, 2007
March 17, 2007
March 11, 2007
Every day we encounter dozens of anonymous men and women, and for the most part we treat them as if they are beneath us, as if they have no dignity. Why is that?
February 18, 2007
January 31, 2007
January 28, 2007
January 26, 2007
January 23, 2007
January 9, 2007
January 6, 2007
Rachel Barenblat considers Joseph's request that his bones not be left in Egypt, and what it says about our own connections to family and our personal history.
December 22, 2006
Christianity assumes a God who has encounters with His creation. The Christmas story is where it all begins.
December 18, 2006
Christianity assumes a God who has encounters with His creation. The Christmas story is where it all begins.
December 11, 2006
Christianity assumes a God who has encounters with His creation. The Christmas story is where it all begins.
December 8, 2006
Christianity assumes a God who has encounters with His creation. The Christmas story is where it all begins.
November 15, 2006
Jesus claimed that he and God were partners. Buddies. The two of them had divvied up responsibilities, and Jesus was going to be there on the Day of Judgment, deciding who had been good and who had been bad. Is it any wonder the religious leaders thought he was dangerous?
November 5, 2006
If we are to escape becoming like Ted Haggard, we must make ourselves accountable to the community of believers by talking honestly about our temptations.
October 29, 2006
Naked human nature has no respect for the rights of others. When push comes to shove, humans prefer aggression to love.
August 31, 2006
Our western love affair with libertarianism, individualism and egalitarianism has led many pedophiles to see themselves as victims of Puritan taboos, and a class of people being denied their civil right to have sex with children.
August 17, 2006
August 14, 2006
It's difficult to cross the bridges that separate us. Too often we find we have this perverse desire to blow them up, instead.
August 4, 2006
June 19, 2006
The incarnation of God into human history happened at one of the worst moments in the history of Judaism. Today, in the worst of times, Christ is here.
June 12, 2006
Choppin' Cactus in the Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God is in this prickly pear desert. Right here. Right now.May 25, 2006
Washington, Faith and Perseverance
This faith in Christ, this life of obedience to an unseen God, is by definition a life of hardship and uncertainty, all in pursuit of a prize well worth the pain: a relationship with the eternal God, the God who loves us.May 2, 2006
April 17, 2006
The Unbearable Lightness of Redemption
Either we go through life hardly giving our sins a second thought, or we go through life so burdened down by their awful weight that we can think of nothing else.April 9, 2006
When one looks at other religions and their own venerated leaders, it's odd that we Christians have built our faith on a man who was executed for a capital offense.
March 31, 2006
We tend to hold romantic notions about family. In reality, families are like broken crucibles, and the children created in the furnaces of our homes are never perfect.
March 30, 2006
We tend to hold romantic notions about family. In reality, families are like broken crucibles, and the children created in the furnaces of our homes are never perfect.
March 9, 2006
February 13, 2006
Why do we pursue excellence? What pushes us to run faster, to jump higher, or to try to capture in the performance of an aria the perfect interpretation of the composer's inner vision?
January 20, 2006
Evolution should be creating life in every corner of the universe. Technologically advanced civilizations should be bombarding the universe with radio signals, just as we are. So... why is the universe so quiet?
January 5, 2006
Behind the Rescue at the Sago Mine
What motivates us to put our lives at risk for complete strangers?December 6, 2005
The accounts of Jesus' ministry are full of miracles, especially healing. Can we believe these stories, and if so, does Jesus still heal today?
November 12, 2005
October 6, 2005
The universe seems to have been carefully tweaked to support life. Like a gambler on a hot streak, life rolled seven after seven after seven after seven, to the point of nearly breaking the house.
September 6, 2005
Jesus claims to be our source of hope in desperate times. He claims to be our peace in moments of terror. He is calmness in chaos. He is wisdom in confusion. He is reassurance when panic sets in. He also claims that we, ourselves, can be a light to each other.
August 31, 2005
If God is loving, if God is powerful, why didn't he step in and protect his people from hurricane Katrina? Among the dead, the injured and the newly homeless, how many counted themselves as members of God's family of faith? Why did he ignore them in their time of need?
August 1, 2005
Progressives want to reshape modern culture by overturning centuries-old traditions. These traditions are not arbitrary moral conventions, but the result of thousands of years of social and cultural adaptation. Tradition is our community DNA.
July 18, 2005
Liberal pluralism cannot survive where there is no love. Universal human freedom is only possible when we agree to hold every human being in the highest regard, even when we disagree with his or her views.
July 8, 2005
June 24, 2005
June 5, 2005