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c. 2014 Religion News Service...

c. 2014 Religion News Service...

“I know what you did last Sunday,” claims the title of a new survey. You skipped church. And then nearly one in seven of you fibbed about attending....

When you grow up with a grandmother who insists that you thank the hens every time you gather their eggs, gratitude becomes second nature.

One of my favorite confessions of sin is from a short poem called "Thread," by Dan Chiasson. "I am frayed where it would be highly useful," he writes, "to make a point." Many people, perhaps most, are at least vaguely aware of one of the consequences of human sin.

At a church leaders' retreat last month, we talked about having an I don't do list as a way of making time for sacred pauses in life and ministry. The things we don't do make it possible to do some other things. The things we say No to allow us to say Yes to other things. So one pastor said, "I don’t answer the phone at home after 8 p.m."

Rowan Williams favors a kind of secularism that requires an honest broker to mediate and manage genuine difference, rather than one that aspires to little more than maximized choice.

It’s time for mainline Protestant churches to invite mainstream Jewish organizations to sit down and figure out what we can do together to support the Israel-Palestine peace process.

Despite bleak forecasts, many of today’s teenagers refuse to buy the marketed temptations to despair and fear. They’ll find a way.

"If enough of us Christians refuse these invitations, religious professionals from other...

I meet monthly with a group of pastors to talk about ministry, leadership, family systems stuff and more. (We also catch an occasional Nats game.)...

c. 2014 Religion News Service...

c. 2014 Religion News Service...

Interfaith couples can connect to their traditions and find commonality through symbols, such as a strand of rope that signifies unity and strength.

One Sunday at worship, a very small, wonderful thing happened. During the closing hymn (a rousing rendition of "How Firm a Foundation," by the way), we carried the cross and processed to the entry of the church, as always. The people turned to face the cross, as always (or at least as they have begun to do during this past year). We stood there, continuing to sing, as always. And then, three little girls, about three or four years old, began to dance.

When Nadia and I got married, we really went all out on the worship planning. She spread out multiple worship books, adapting her favorite parts and writing collects and petitions from scratch. I recruited not one or two but ten friends to lead the music and then got to work writing original service music, reharmonizing hymns, and notating all of it to match in the bulletin. About that bulletin: it was epically thick.

I recently interviewed cultural anthropologist and New York Times columnist Tanya Luhrmann about prayer and religious experience. After the interview, I asked her for some recommendations of books on prayer that are not "how-tos." What are some books that can help me understand prayer more conceptually and experientially?

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A measles outbreak tied to a group of Amish missionaries in Ohio has reached 68 cases, giving the state the dubious distinction of having the most cases reported in any state since 1996, health off...

Legislative action may be slow, but a new consensus is emerging: massive incarceration is unsustainable, both morally and financially.