Opinion
Mass Graves Reveal 966 Children Left Unnamed
At two residential schools for Indigenous children, 966 mass graves were found. Who ran these schools? What was their intent? While what happened can’t unhappen, what steps will we take so such terrible things can’t unhappen again?
‘Pig’
‘Pig,’ a new drama thriller starring Nicolas Cage, tells the story of those we pass by. Playing a disheveled woodsman on a quest to find his truffle-hunting pig, Cage’s pitch-perfect performance is a ride you’ll enjoy taking.
Getting ‘Under Conviction’ about Our Convictions
Many churchgoers don’t want their sinful convictions of comfort and ease challenged. Yet, only when convicted about convictions that don’t align with Jesus’ life and teachings can they move toward moral and spiritual renewal.
When Grief Unravels Your Life – Part 2
How do you handle grief upon grief stacking up in your life? Remember these losses are part of your history, interwoven into the fabric of who you are. If you weave the threads of loss into your life, you will be richer for it.
You’ve Run Out of Excuses to Avoid Vaccine
Out of more than 161 million fully vaccinated people in the US, the CDC is hard pressed to find more than 849 deaths related to COVID-19 among them. So any debate about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines is ridiculous.
White-Privileged Ignore Back-Crushing Stance
While we have a couple of space-happy billionaires shelling out their concentrated wealth to fly high, so many who are privileged are flying blind, unaware of the crushing weight they put on the backs of those they stand on.
When Grief Unravels Your Life – Part 1
Grief is like a river. The river has myriad moods with currents changing from spring’s rush to summer’s laze. However, if you’re caught off-guard, a current of grief can catch you in a windswept turbulence threatening your safety.
Faith Groups to Prez Biden: Protect Sacred Land
Fifty religious groups from numerous faiths signed a letter, urging President Biden to recognize a region near Phoenix that holds spiritual significance for local Indigenous tribes and shielding it from copper-hungry mining firms.
COVID-19, Inflation, Inept Gov’t Plague Cuban People
A series of complex crises devastate the Cuban people. Escalating numbers are dying of COVID-19, inflation continues to rage, and they are angry at the inept responses of a government worried much more about power than people.
Insurance Giant: No Coverage for Inapt ER Trips
A trip to the ER can cost 12 times more than a visit to your primary-care doctor. Yet one insurance giant claims many folks are wrongly visiting the ER for medical care. But it’s easier to be seen in the ER than by your family doc.
Your Faith Can Make Us Well
The COVID-19 Delta variant is wreaking havoc on the unvaccinated. And as the virus mutates to stay alive and our kids are exposed to future mutations, we must set aside our divisions in order to protect our most precious commodity.
When Everyone in Your Church Needs You All at Once
When a pastor cares for just one family navigating a difficult time, it’s stressful enough. This pandemic-infused pastoral ministry meant caring for hundreds of families, all feeling the throes of the pandemic differently.
Folks on Earth Hunger as Mega-Rich Race to Space
While many don’t know where their next meal is coming from, should a couple of uber-rich guys spend millions of bucks to go into space for a rollercoaster ride for the wealthy? Do those of us in our cozy lifestyles give any better?
Gideon’s Jug? Hold Your Horses
Archaeologists in Israel recently published the discovery of an ancient inscription that may carry the name Jeruba‘al, a nickname the biblical account attributes to Gideon, one of Israel’s ‘judges.’ Should we get excited?
Blustering Opinionists Aren’t in Arena Doing Work
In the world today, you have opinionists – some armed with microphones – who point out how the people in the arena stumble or could have done better. Then you have folks in the arena, who fall but get up again to do the work.
Making Claims Doesn’t Make One Right or Righteous
Those who wave the biggest flags and display the largest crosses often confuse the two allegiances of patriotism and Christianity and rarely represent the best of what either means. They’re the ones we need to watch closely.
Why COVID-19 Vaccines Won’t Stick You to Fridge
Beware the COVID-19 vaccine. It can turn you into a human magnet, so says one anti-vaxxer activist. This outlandish claim, like so many other anti-vax arguments, have been around for over a century. They fall into three categories.
Why It’s Never Too Late for Healing
Maybe you forgot what you had done. Maybe you weren’t paying attention. But something or someone reminds you that you have sinned. The spiritual bruise of the act has never healed, even if it has faded. Can you still make amends?
Church Hurts: Bullies Must Be Called to Task
Church members pick fights, bully and destroy the faith and spiritual lives of others, all to maintain power, to dominate the narrative, to control sacred space. The church has bodywork to do. It’s time to hold them accountable.
This Prophet Didn’t Mince Words with Oppressors
At a casual reading, Nahum sounds shockingly harsh for those of us who believe in an all-loving God. But this is Nahum’s message: The empire in any time and place that inflicts untold suffering on others is not unaccountable.
Force-Feeding Immigrants: A Brutal Practice
The medical community has reached a growing consensus that force-feeding is morally wrong. Yet, the US government still regularly practices it as immigrants and asylum-seekers in detention facilities have gone on hunger strikes.
Look Back | How We Blame Race for Our Behavior
When it comes to race, we speak as if we have no say, no will, no power at all. Race is not all that there is to say about humanity. Each of us needs to be more fully in Jesus Christ and less as race’s color-coded bodies.
All Aboard! Next Stop: New Opportunities
Many churches have been on the platform, watching the train of opportunity leave the station. Now, an emerging generation of Christians are getting on board to tackle racial inequality, climate change, income inequality and more.
Why So Many Ignore Their ‘Bleeding’ Neighbors – Part 2
Two things keep our nation from providing decent health care to the poorest of our neighbors. The first is a pathological individualism; the second is a structural racism based on conscious and unconscious commitment to caste.
Season 2 of ‘Raceless Gospel’ Premieres July 18
Season 2 of ‘The Raceless Gospel’ podcast, hosted by Starlette Thomas, will premiere on Sunday, July 18, on all streaming platforms. With the theme of ‘Bodywork,’ eight new episodes will drop, with a new installment each Sunday.
The Best Thing about Summer
Climate change has wrought havoc to so many things. Change isn’t going to happen without popular support from people willing to reduce their own carbon footprints. So get out there and start growing your own homegrown tomatoes.
How So Many Ignore Their ‘Bleeding’ Neighbors – Part 1
Newborns in 10 counties in Mississippi have a shorter life expectancy than newborns in Bangladesh. Yes, you read that right. A state filled with good Baptist people, the government has refused to expand Medicaid to help its own.
History’s Curtain Rises and We’re Not Center Stage
Americanized Christianity suffers deeply from a false sense of entitlement and defensiveness rather than sacrifice and service. It’s an exercise in self-absorption. Jesus constantly turned the attention of his followers to others.
How Online Churches Boost Members’ Engagement
Churches must develop online spaces for discipleship, care, connection, support, lament, prayer and praise. An online church is always open, allowing your members to be the church where they are whenever they need to be of service.
How Our Church Will Change After COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic cast light on the state of our churches. Some will not survive the exposure, others will, but none will be unchanged. Here is how our church is making the transition this fall as we come out of the pandemic.