Latest Articles
Canada apologizes for abuse at church-run aboriginal schools: Boarding schools were compulsory
Church leaders in Canada hope that action will follow a public apology by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to victims of a policy whereby aboriginal children were placed in residential schools run by ...
Christian Reformed Church elects a woman as vice president: First Synod with women delegates
The Christian Reformed Church made history by electing a woman as vice president of its annual Synod—the first such meeting in which women were allowed to serve as delegates....
Mainline shows shift to Democrats: Most change among centrist mainliners
Although mainline Protestant denominations for decades have been closely linked to liberal causes—civil rights, women’s movements, abortion rights and antiwar protests—most of their members have be...
Waiting for the kingdom: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43; Romans 8:12-25
When I sit with the Washington Post and my morning coffee, I have a sense that I’m hovering on a threshold; like many Americans, I remember September 11 and feel as if I’m waiting for the ...
The mysterious power of leaven: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-49a
What are we asking for when we pray for the kingdom of heaven to come?
Like a child: Reflections on a mission trip
In January of this year I went to the Dominican Republic with Edge Outreach to install water purifiers. We were in the capital city of Santo Domingo....
The world comes to Qatar: Interfaith conversations in an Arab land
A few decades ago Qatar was a tribal society with an economy based largely on fishing, pearl harvesting and camel and horse breeding. In 1995 a bloodless coup set the stage for the modernization of the country’s oil and gas industries. Qatar’s economy grew 24 percent in 2006 alone, and its per capita income that year was $61,540. Today Qatar is on track to become the wealthiest nation (on a per capita basis) in the world.
God and Globalization, Volume 4: Globalization and Grace
In the first century St. Paul believed that God’s divinity was everywhere manifest and nowhere fully heeded....
From Stone to Living Word: Letting theBible LiveAgain
Sometimes funny, frequently irreverent and consistently thoughtful, Debbie Blue, a founding pastor of the House of Mercy i...
Special Orders: Poems
These poems from Edward Hirsch, a mature and accomplished poet, are remarkable for the way jubilation arises from them, even through the usual heartbreak th...
Roman de Gare
Claude Lelouch’s 1966 film A Man and a Woman remains the North Star of romantic French movies....
Transformed
The Transfiguration provides a window through which the Christian narrative may be viewed.
Double vision
Romans 8 sharpens my eyes to see more clearly a hope I cannot see on my own. Paul has a way of encouraging me to peek over his shoulder....
Imagining with Lars
“There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus....
Free to believe: Individual conscience is by nature free
The Fourth of July is certainly not a church holiday, but it is an opportunity for the church and the preacher to reflect on the history of the republic, the extraordinary group of leaders who gath...
The politician's pastor: Vetting the minister
It’s been an odd season for pastors and would-be presidents....
Century Marks: Occupational hazards, etc.
Poetic justice: Last winter some high school students in Vermont entered the home where poet Robert Frost spent many of his summers. Holding a raucous party, they smashed china, soiled carpets and burned furniture. Part of the students’ court-ordered punishment was to take a class on Frost’s poetry, in which the teacher tried to connect Frost’s poems to the students’ lives (insidehighered.com).
Witness in Sudan: An interview with Oliver Duku
As a German-trained medical doctor, Oliver Duku was director of health services for Southern Sudan until the government based in Khartoum forced him from his job....