Latest Articles
Rising to your level of misery
They can’t pay you enough money to do a job you hate.
I have a lot of lasting memories of my grandfather—homegrown tomatoes, “Heart and Soul” duets on the piano—but that’s the primary piece of wisdom I remember him passing along to me. And it’s a good one.
What we're learning from a long wait to adopt
The other month my spouse and I received a packet in the mail from our adoption agency. It came in a large, white, important-looking envelope—a hopeful envelope. Maybe something good is about to happen, we thought.
Liberia debates amendment declaring country to be a Christian nation
Christian leaders in Liberia—including the nation’s president, who is a United Methodist—are speaking against a proposal to amend the nation’s constitution to declare Liberia a Christian state....
Stopping racism with a smile?
Last semester, I had students review Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith. For those unfamiliar with this book, the authors make two general claims:
America is a racialized society. White evangelical Protestants are unwitting proponents of racialization.
To the planter of trees
Two of my frequent routes include an arcade of trees. Neither is very long—one just a block, the other maybe a quarter-mile. But even when the branches are bare, the trees form this graceful archway that we drive through.
As I went though one the other day, I started wondering about the person or persons who planted those trees.
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates is an atheist. But perhaps his atheism is precisely the kind that Christians in America need.
Pope Francis: 'Jesus was popular and look how that turned out'
c. 2015 Religion News Service...
September 27, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Mark 9:38-50
At this point in Mark, stumbling blocks seem a necessary point for conversation. We are good at placing them in others’ paths, and even better at setting them before ourselves.
What Google doesn’t know: Lessons from the Ashley Madison hack
What if someone released all our e-mails and texts? It would make the Ashley Madison hack look quaint in comparison.
Why mainline pastors should read Rachel Held Evans
I put it off for a while. I don’t like to read people who are so popular, so trendy. Furthermore, I’m a United Methodist minister teaching at a PC(USA) seminary—why would I want to read a story of a young evangelical who has a few doubts and then joins the Episcopal Church?
"You used to sing to me"
So, I've only been at my church for a couple of months, not long enough to accomplish anything big or great. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway....
Refugee crisis: Israelis invoke Holocaust as they debate how to respond
(The Christian Science Monitor) As scenes of Middle Eastern refugees streaming along European railways were stirring Israelis’ collect...
Recovering from Ebola, Sierra Leone communities strive for reconciliation
(The Christian Science Monitor) The greatest betrayal of James Keppa’s life took only as long as uttering these words: we need an amb...
Loving the refugee
The wrenching dislocations of World War II were often pitilessly ignored by the world. What story will be told of our time, and of us?
Was Jesus a progressive rabbi?
I’ve seen a few people on Facebook share an image from theologian Benjamin Corey and I have to say that it bothers me.
Episode 1: Shannon Kershner
Matt talks to the pastor of Chicago's Fourth Presbyterian about pastoral transition, being a post-liberal among liberals, and the crash course she took in the Chicago Cubs to prepare for Ernie Banks's funeral.