Latest Articles
Sunday, June 23, 2013: 1 Kings 19:1-4 (5-7), 8-15a; Isaiah 65:1-9
A vengeful howl among political leaders in North Carolina has silenced God’s voice as legislators try to resume executions of those on death row....
A breath of fresh dreaming
Recently, I was lucky to sit in on a meeting with a church’s governing board, their interim pastor and a church consultant. The congregation had planned to seek a settled, full time...
Tuesday digest
New today from the Century: Cairo's garbage city, privacy and terrorism, more.
Do Americans care about privacy?
A new WaPo/Pew poll finds that 56 percent of Americans thing it’s acceptable for the National Security Agency to secretly access millions of Americans’ phone records. Sixty-two percent favor investigating terrorist threats “even if that intrudes on personal privacy.”
Do people just not give a damn about privacy anymore, what with their dreams of reality-TV celebrity and their willingness to function as a Facebook or Google product?
Wisdom in doing nothing
The civil war in Syria is tragic. But Obama is right to be skeptical of direct military intervention.
A world of Ahabs and Naboths
“The story of Naboth is old in time but daily in practice,” said Ambrose of Milan. “Who of the wealthy does not strive to drive off the poor person from his little acre and turn out the needy from the boundaries of his ancestral field?”
Our world was and is ruled by those who control militaries and cartels, banks and corporations—the heirs of King Ahab’s insatiable desire and unrestrained power.
On "the glory of preaching"
I spent part of a recent week reading a book about preaching. It had an impressive sounding title that included the words “the glory of preaching.” I bought it on the recommendation of someone from my grad school days who had spent ten minutes or so listening to me going on and on about my what an unobvious choice I was for the vocation of “pastor.”
Monday digest
New today from the Century: The editors on Syria, Lil Copan reviews Christian Wiman, more.
My Bright Abyss, by Christian Wiman
Having struggled with a rare cancer that offered little chance of recovery, Poetry magazine editor Christian Wiman has navigated his way through questions of belief and death....
A response to "Pulpit rotation" Case by case: Case by case
Read Ellen Blue's fictional narrative first....
Both sides see gay marriage as ‘inevitable’
c. 2013 USA Today
(RNS) About 72 percent of Americans say legal recognition of same-sex marriage is “inevitable,” according to a survey released Thursday (June 6)....
Activists rally to bury the bodies from Gosnell abortion trial
c. 2013 Religion News Service...
Pulpit rotation: Case by case
The community Thanksgiving service would be at the Southern Baptist church that year, but it was Madeline's church's turn to supply the preacher.
Inactive in the steeples
When I first started working for the Century about six years ago, I was given the assignment of intervie...
In the midst of weakness
I am weak in him. This week I mailed a few dozen invitations to a meeting about a mission trip, a trip few people are interested in. I wonder if the trip will need to be canceled. I am a disciple who has fished all night and caught little.
Other people saying things
"Group singing and performance can produce satisfying and therapeutic sensations, even when...
Friday digest
New today from the Century: Ellen Blue's latest "Case by Case" ministry scenario, Daniel Schultz reviews Jim Naughton and Rebecca Wilson.
Speaking Faithfully, by Jim Naughton and Rebecca Wilson
How can churches and other religious institutions speak effectively to let the world know that something is happening with church people that they might want to be a part of?