Features
The half-believer: Pico Iyer on Graham Greene
Graham Greene "read theology constantly and always refers to God," says Pico Iyer. "But it's a God he doesn't always claim to know."
Paper chase: Case by case
Larry wondered what Stan wanted to see him about. Stan was not the sort of parishioner who often asked for counsel or help with a problem.
A response to "Paper Chase" Case by case: Case by case
Conflict is neither good nor bad. It is just inevitable, and it’s another tool for leadership. Jesus Christ started most of the ones he experienced, so why should his faithful disciples expect to avoid them?
Why the cross? God’s at-one-ment with humanity
Some questions won't go away. The creed says Jesus was crucified "for us," but what do those two little words mean?
Clutter buster: A church clears a path
A church is not a building. But I believe a church building is often an outward and visible sign of a congregation's spiritual condition.
Staying power: Reflections on a long pastorate
I have pastored the same church for 18 years. That's not exactly a towering pinnacle, but it does provide some interesting views.
Books
Dear Life: Stories, by Alice Munro
The women in many of Alice Munro’s stories are fleeing, in quiet and not-so-quiet ways. A woman has an affair while on a train on her way to Toronto....
Open Heart, by Elie Wiesel
Wiesel survived Auschwitz in his youth, but at 82 years of age he wondered whether he’d survive emergency bypass surgery....
Evangelical and gay
Justin Lee's book is more than charitable to his Southern Baptist origins. But his heart-wrenching stories speak for themselves.
A Season of Mystery, by Paula Huston
The curmudgeonly old are notorious for “close-mindedness, complaining, fear of change, obsessing about comfort and security, boredom, denial, resentment, judgmentalism, hoarding, and cursing an inc...
Occupy Religion, by Joerg Rieger and Kwok Pui-lan
It is easy to conclude that the Occupy movement was a flash in the pan, enacted by disgruntled people without a plan or staying power, a passing whim to be forgotten. This book insists otherwise.
Departments
Easter’s coming
The years I spent preaching Easter brought me closer to the heart of resurrection news. They drove me deeper into the gospel.
A secular Latin America?
The U.S. may be heading toward European-style secularization. More surprisingly, several Latin American countries mirror conditions in the States.
St. Ann Christ (with detail), by Chris Scala
While many artists seek to convey a sense of the layers of suffering and anguish in the Passion of Christ, few consider what the medium itself conveys. This life-sized sculpture appears weightless, and it radiates light and lightness....
Supernatural romance
The act of sacrifice central to Beautiful Creatures works only because the characters' story is not entirely their own.
Night out in London
I recently spent a night on the streets of London. I had two companions, who wondered if I was checking up on them in some way.
Blessing gay marriage
A specifically Christian understanding of marriage doesn't insist on procreation. It insists that marriage mirrors God's fidelity.
News
From Gotham City to Capitol Hill
The National Council of Churches, long strapped for cash, is leaving its costly digs in Manhattan and consolidating with a slimmer staff in a Washington, D.C., office within walking distance of two branches of the federal government....
Conservatives see limits of Benedict’s reign
When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, the surprising choice cast a pall over the liberal wing of the flock and left conservatives giddy with the prospect of total victory....
Catholic hospital says fetus defense was ‘morally wrong’
Legal advice trumped church teaching when a Catholic hospital in Colorado tried to defend itself in a wrongful death lawsuit by claiming that twin fetuses who died at the hospital in 2006, along with the mother, should not be considered persons....
Canada names minister for religious freedom
After nearly two years of delay, Canada has finally named its ambassador for the Office of Religious Freedom. At a mosque north of Toronto, Prime Minister Stephen Harper named Andrew Bennett to head the office....
Scottish cardinal resigns after sex accusations
Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland resigned on February 25 in the wake of explosive charges that he had made “inappropriate” sexual advances to four men, three of them priests and one now a former seminarian, starting in the 1980s....
All eyes on S.C. and Texas church property fights
When disgruntled congregations have left hierarchical denominations such as the Episcopal Church, they’ve often lost property battles as civil courts ruled that buildings and land are not theirs to keep....
Evangelicals embraced a like-minded pope
As word spread in February of the pope’s resignation, many evangelicals lamented the impending loss of a powerful spokesman for their conservative causes....
Fasting like Daniel gains a following during Lenten season
Amy Lester has followed Jesus for decades, but her keen appreciation of his sacrifice on the cross came only recently, when she started eating like the prophet Daniel....
Chicago is center for U.S. Muslim renaissance
Religious affiliation may be on the wane in America, a recent Pew study asserts, but you wouldn’t know it from walking into the storefront near the corner of West 63rd Street and South Fairfield Avenue in Chicago....
Publishers in seventh heaven with near-death memoirs
Do people really see a light at the end of a tunnel when they have a near-death experience? And could that be heaven up ahead?...
Lectionary
Sunday, March 31, 2013: John 20:1-18
In John's Easter account, people spend the day running around trying to come to terms with what God has done in the night.
Palm/Passion Sunday (Luke 19:28-40, Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 23:1-49)
If this Sunday's service seems crowded and discordant, there’s a historical reason for it: the lectionary readings are a combination of two different local liturgies.