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The Wrong Em-PHA-sis
You can’t see the forest for the trees. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. And my favorite: Why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? These familiar, bizarre...
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The Silence of God’s Voice
I taught a Sunday school class recently that included five elementary students and one high school freshman. The lesson was about Listening to God. Simple enough. Easily explainable. Or, so I thought....
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Who Cares About the Religious Right Anymore?
If the son of a famous preacher makes an inflammatory political declaration, does he really make a sound? I asked myself this question when I read The New York Times’ profile of Franklin Graham and...
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The Spiritual Practice of Shutting Up
Many people have a certain idea of what prayer is. Call and response. Prayers of unison. Joys and concerns. The Lord’s Prayer recited. Words spoken aloud, usually to petition God for a certain sense of...
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Good Friday Came First
Before the alleluias get dug up from the ground, before anyone can look for the living among the dead, before Sunday can come, there will be a Friday. It is the order of things. It is the way that the...
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Grieving Good Friday
Rev. Dr. Pat Youngdahl, a Presbyterian minister and a writer, once reflected on her discomfort that as Christians we celebrate one Holy Week during the year, “as if,” she says, “the holiest things that...
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Disciples of Fear: Is It Easier to Believe in Crucifixions?
We currently live in a world where countless books have been written and read by countless believers about “declared dead on the operating table” or similar experiences with predictable tales of a...
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In the Wake of Catastrophe
What is this faith that proclaims victory over death? That celebrates a savior risen yet hidden in mystery, calling for a belief transcending understanding? The Easter Season reminds me of all the...
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We Can’t Get Church Right
I thought I had found the perfect church. Five years ago, I found myself on the leadership team for a new church plant called RISE. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. We were focused on...
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You are Not Your Depression
“The real me is something bad, something that has to be controlled with drugs,” said the teen. My heart sank to hear these words from the teenager I was speaking with. In previous conversations, he...
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Marlon Brando and the Problem with Biblical Healings
Recently I wrote a post for the sermon prep blog Modern Metanoia on one of Jesus’ healings. My initial grappling with the text made Jesus seem like a jerk–never a promising start to a sermon. I mean,...
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Our Culture of Silence
Everyone in the congregation I grew up in had to know what it meant when my mother arrived Sunday mornings with extra foundation on her face. Or when she wore long sleeves during the hot summer despite...
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So you say you’ve got white privilege. Now what?
White privilege. It’s the phrase bigots hate to hear and progressives love to denounce. If you are white and clicked on this blog to be congratulated for naming your privilege, you can stop reading in...
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How to Make Progressive Church More Inviting for Military Families
Dear Progressive Christian Pastors and Churches: Here are some super basic things we could do to make our churches more inviting for military families: Include military personnel/families in sermon...
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The Sin of Stillness
One of my daughter’s favorite shows at the moment is “Thomas the Tank Engine.” I haven’t yet figured out what she likes most about it, whether the stories or out of a growing fascination with trains. I...
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Nine (Tweetable) Lessons I Learned from #BlackLivesMatter
A recent Gallup poll says that the number of Americans who see racism as our leading national problem is rising. That increase is due, largely I think, to the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the way...
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The Rise of Casual Christians
Since my childhood in the 1970s and 1980s, formalities have decreased in each arena of society. It’s not news that most of our churches reflect this growing sense of casualness. In most of our...
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Do You Count the Killer?
“We don’t really count the shooter as a victim,” FBI Special Agent Paul Wysopal said at a Monday morning press conference and reported today in the New York Post. That makes perfect sense: Perpetrators...
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When We Nurture Love Not Hate
This time it’s different. When it was 9/11, the attacks against our nation gave us pause to consider what it means to be an American. When it was Sandy Hook, there was no connection between the gunman...
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Did I Just Wake Up from A Nightmare?
I was half sleeping with the television on, and either I was having a nightmare or I heard somebody tell a really bad joke. Guy walks into a gay club with an assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of...
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