Church
September 4, Ordinary 23C (Jeremiah 18:1–11)
There is nothing markedly sacred about the potter’s house.
Drawing God
A graphic novel about the Hebrew God, a collection of cartoons about Jesus, and a comic strip about the Holy Ghost
Ministry with the grieving
Twenty of us gathered to talk about having a job that requires us to weep with those who weep.
The World Council of Churches in wartime
The grim future of communion with the Russian Orthodox Church
What does it mean to be a green church during a climate crisis?
It’s a way of life. But it starts small.
Getting to yes on paid family leave
“We decided that we would be the last committee in the Episcopal Church to deal with this issue.”
My last note from the global church
This specialized column made more sense 14 years ago than it does now.
What I left out of my mother’s funeral sermon
I told the truth about her but not the whole truth.
Black men I’ve mourned
I’ve preached more than 800 funeral sermons. Many of these deaths have marked me.
Preaching in the valley of actual death
My task at funerals is to share the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Reckoning with the careless ableism of the church
Amy Kenny’s call for disability justice leads with righteous anger but offers grace.
How Christians in Korea helped build American evangelicalism
Helen Jin Kim exhumes the Korean roots of three major evangelical organizations, all present at a 1973 Billy Graham rally in Seoul.
Title 42’s disastrous—and illegal—legacy at the southern border
The Biden administration has reversed Trump’s rhetoric around migrants but not all of his policies.
July 10, 15C (Amos 7:7-17)
The prophets God sends among us are often vilified, distorted, and silenced.
On the holiness of casseroles and spreadsheets
When our church offered Rosa sanctuary, our ordinary habits became a politics of hospitality.
This is my broken body
When illness took over my life, I developed a new understanding of the Eucharist.
Thinking about God’s desire with the medieval mystics
“I have the sense that Mechthild of Magdeburg’s whole life was lived in pursuit of her divine beloved.”
Unexpected revelation
My conversation partner may have been a prophet—or a quack. My job was simply to listen.