CCblogs Network
The silence that surrounds parents’ grief for a baby
“It’s the absolute worst when this happens,” says the man laying gravestones, unable to speak the words baby or dead.
Giving thanks in a world of horrors
During the groaning evil of the Thirty Years War, a pastor wrote the hymn “Now thank we all our God.”
Am I still a Christian?
In the messy web of identity and associations, I’m weary of arguing about beliefs, practices, and labels.
Believe in something, says Nike. But what?
Whatever else the Kaepernick ad is, it's a symptom of the confusion that characterizes our cultural moment.
Participating in God’s righteous anger
Is our outrage only creating a sense of justice for ourselves?
Stranger in a strange land
The word missionary makes me cringe a little. But I was one, and it taught me a lot.
Julian of Norwich's image of Mother Jesus
Like breastfeeding children, we are fed from Christ's own body, the 14th-century mystic wrote.
"I wanna open my heart"
Souls aren’t easy to bare, particularly in jail.
How much education does a pastor need?
There's an uncomfortable truth for us pastors: we're not academics with sacraments.
Can I ban "remember when"?
Questions that begin this way rarely have to do with the mission.
The Red Hen and the spirit of Eucharist
Sarah Huckabee Sanders was denied a meal at a Virginia restaurant. I wonder who's welcome at our table.
When the belly of a whale sounds good
Jonah wants God to hate his enemy as much as he does.
What makes a violent story also a sacred text?
"Is this feeding your souls?" I asked after we slogged through another biblical bloodbath.
An expectant dad's sympathy for Nicodemus
Nicodemus is perplexed. There's a lesson for us in his confusion.
Children are the church
We miss a lot when we don't invite children's presence and participation in worship.
Same Jesus
My church is part of a group hosting Syrian refugees. When an Orthodox priest from Homs visited, we were reminded how much they've lost—but also of our shared faith.
Seeking the holy in a labyrinth
By walking the path set out for me, I cede control of my destination.
Easter is not good news without the cross
The shock of Easter isn’t just the empty grave. It’s that God comes back from death and doesn’t condemn the unrighteous ones who put him there.
Bearing arms in America
The individual right to gun ownership is the law of the land. Until it isn't.
Jesus hangs in my Honda
Crucifixes are decidedly un-victorious objects.