First Words
Looking ahead
Life isn’t meant to be lived in the rearview mirror.
Love’s knowledge
We learn the most from those with whom we have a strong emotional bond.
Ukraine’s sleepless children
A failed high school science experiment increased my empathy for those who can’t sleep.
The courage to admit that we have blind spots
This acknowledgment is at the heart of Christianity.
Good parenting is rooted in warm relationships
But sometimes it also requires clever tactics.
Tears are a gift from God
They put us in touch with essential things that we know to be dear or wrong.
Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” is about White people’s comfort
When did comfort become our highest aspiration?
The receptive, reflective act of paying attention
For Simone Weil, paying attention means asking, ”What are you going through?”
Jesus turned his public humiliation into solidarity
He turned it into love and care for humiliated others.
What does it mean to be a Christian plumber?
Most of us have nouns in common; it’s the adjectives that divide us.
Cultivating Christ-like compassion
We may feel compassion in our guts, but we learn it by practicing empathic solidarity.
Is there an antidote to White grievance?
It’s hard to imagine this fear-driven resentment responding to outside counsel.
St. Dymphna and her legacy of care
How the patron saint of mental illness has shown up in my brother’s life
If God is almighty, why do we suffer?
A nine-year-old at my church wants to know.
Reckoning with our messiah complexes
The vulnerability of the newborn Christ challenges our inclination to play God.
The human moments of pastoral care
There’s something uniquely precious about being physically present with people.
End-of-life decisions in the ICU
The Christian tradition has something to say about the ethics of extending life.
The New York Public Library’s act of grace
The end of fines and late fees
American Christians tend to imagine a God who thinks and looks like us
How do you see the face we cannot see?
Who is welcome at the communion table?
Maybe the grace experienced in the sacrament precedes belief.