Latest Articles
Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins, by Miguel A. De La Torre
At such ideologically charged times, it is hard to discern what a life of Christian faithfulness looks like. Miguel De La Torre offers a good resource.
Fleeing persecution, Christian converts find safe houses in England
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Rabbi David Saperstein confirmed as U.S. ambassador for religious freedom
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Sierra Leone bans Christmas, New Year’s celebrations to prevent spread of Ebola
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Christmas Eve visions
In the 12th century, a Benedictine nun had a vision of Jesus’ humanity. It couldn’t have happened on a better night.
Promises and promising
This week's 2 Samuel and Luke passages get me thinking about promising.
Not coerced promises. A promise to obey traffic laws in order to get a license is benignly coerced. A promise to be quiet under threat of harm is violently coerced. They're not what I'm thinking about.
A mother’s vows
I bathed my 10-and-a-half-year-old daughter and washed her hair for the first time in at least six years. Thanks to her broken ring finger on her right hand, and a midnight blue fiberglass cast that can’t get wet, she needs help.
At first, it felt odd to me, cleansing this independent and maturing child of mine. The last time that I did this, her body was mushy with adorable baby fat, and the tub was filled with bath toys.
The Bible’s Yes to Same-Sex Marriage, by Mark Achtemeier
Mark Achtemeier and I once faced off at General Assembly over gay ordination. Sixteen years later, he preached at my ordination.
Billy Graham, Louis Zamperini and the two nights in 1949 that changed their lives
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Prayer on the go: A busy pastors spirituality
I was taught that my labors as a minister don’t count for my own spiritual life. Realizing that this is untrue has brought me great relief and joy.
How can we keep from singing?
I started singing in church choirs when I was a teenager. There I learned to read music and find acceptance among the grown up singers. It was my church’s choir director who helped me find my spiritual voice again after a car accident that fractured my larynx. I went on to study vocal music, compose hymn lyrics and sing in choirs at my college, seminary and several churches over the years.
There is a special kind of relationship that forms among choir members. Something about those rehearsals, with their jokes, irritations and prayer rituals, creates a spiritual bond that can’t be replicated anywhere else.
An ear for faith
Glorybound takes place in a dying West Virginia town amidst people who are snake-handlers and prophets, to whom biblical language is as natural as breathing, and ...
Other people saying things
"I do question whether belief is a productive framework for this story, because it suggests faith in something that lies outside the bounds of human knowledge. To put claims of rape in this category is to buy the idea that rape reports are by nature ambiguous, and that feelings override facts."
Bob Jones University president apologizes to sexual assault survivors on campus
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Dalai Lama says Pope Francis is unwilling to meet: ‘It could cause problems’
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Nativity, December 24 and 25, 2014: Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
It is not as though Mary and Joseph have a choice.
Nativity, December 24 and 25, 2014: Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
It is not as though Mary and Joseph have a choice.
(Un)righteous anger
I got a phone call and it made me angry. It was a follow-up call from a local agency that helps people in trouble in our community. I had phoned them a while back, hoping for some context, some background on a particular couple who was asking our church for material assistance. But they hadn’t had time to respond and a decision had to be made. The people I was talking to were desperate. They couldn’t wait.
“Yeah, we know all about _______,” they said.