Recent Articles
December 19, 2023
Preaching to Polarized Congregations. A Responsibility and a Challenge, Clergy Say.; A Faith Healer in Skinny Jeans is Bringing Catholics Back to Mass; Fears Mount for Gaza’s Tiny Christian Community after Mother and Daughter Shot Dead (and more)
Saving All God’s Children
Churches are preparing for multiple Christmas services and activities for children. Not guarded by farm animals and without the star of Bethlehem to point them out, can we ensure their safety and well-being in the world? Before you respond, answer this.
2023 Advent Reflection | The Liminality of Joy
We hear promises of peace, but we haven’t yet seen it. Mary prophecies that God will “bring down the powerful from their thrones and lift up the lowly,” but it hasn’t happened yet. And so we wait, feeling this tension in the depths of our bones.
Advancing the Cause of Healthy Recovery
I have stood at more hospital beds and funerals as a person in recovery than I ever did as the pastor of an aging church.
December 18, 2023
American Christians Follow Israel-Hamas War, Favor a Two-State Solution: Survey; ‘A Mega-Mechanism for Bonding’: Why Singing Together Does Us Good; Samford LGBTQ+ Students Say They Aren’t Protected from Discrimination (and more)
Baby Jesus, Hands Out
It’s a battle I still wage within myself, being brave enough to approach Jesus as he asks us to do, to come as a child.
Emerging Voices | From Mormon to Baptist: What I Carry With Me
I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, colloquially known as the “Mormon” church. My faith journey has led me to a Baptist belief, and I no longer identify as Mormon. However, some aspects of my experience I have carried with me inform my...
Movie Review | The Boy and the Heron
Notably, the Japanese title of this movie is not “The Boy and the Heron,” but rather, “How Do You Live?” There is more than one way to answer that question.
December 15, 2023
Study Finds Complex Relationship Between Religion and Health Among Sexual Minorities; Live Camels, Flying Angels: Plano Megachurch Criticized Again for Lavish Christmas Show; Muslim Man Accused of Assaulting Son in Nashville Home for Converting to Christianity (and more)
Why Must Mary Remain a Virgin?
Mary’s perpetual virginity has more to do with the influence of Stoic philosophy early in the development of Christianity than anything biblical.
The More Christmas Services the Merrier
By and large, pastors are planning four events or activities to celebrate the Christmas season, according to a Lifeway Research study released on December 5.
Emerging Voices| Don’t Take the Lord’s Name in Vain
The Religious Right, with its purported divine mandate, attempts to justify these distressing circumstances in the name of God.
December 14, 2023
Clarksville Church, Volunteers, Soldiers Support Community After Tornado Devastation; A Fraught Question for the Moment: Is Anti-Zionism Always Antisemitic?; These Texas Parents are Pushing Back Against School Library Book Bans. ‘We Can Fight This.’; (and more)
The Truth About Santa
Even with his speed and ability to manipulate time, it would be too much for him to interact with every child who stayed up late enough to see him. His social calendar is jam-packed from Thanksgiving to Festivus at malls and parades. Christmas is for work.
Exorcizing Shame
But what if we already have what we need? That is, after all, the moral of the story when Jesus feeds the masses with five loaves and two fish.
A New Book on Grief From Nurturing Faith Books
A new book from Nurturing Faith Books offers hope to those who grieve.
December 13, 2023
Esau McCaully: The Theological Truth We Must Press During the War; How a True Believer’s Flawed Research Helped Legitimize Home Schooling; Did Byzantine Christian Icons Conceal Pagan Gods? (and more)
My Last Column, For Now
Through the years, my writings have addressed many issues, trends and concerns — not as an authoritative and definitive word but as a way to encourage thoughtful consideration of these matters.
More Americans Say Hamas is Responsible for Current Conflict
More Americans (65%) say Hamas is responsible for the war than the Israeli government (35%), according to a Pew Research Center report released December 8.
Becoming Peace
When we blame, criticize and condemn others, it is often an attempt to justify the pain that resides deep within our own souls.
December 12, 2023
A St. Paul Church Opened Six Tiny Homes for Those Experiencing Homelessness; ‘The Mission’ Directors Discovered Killed Missionary John Chau was ‘Possessed of Two Faiths; Religion and the LGBTQ+ Community: Choosing an Inclusive Worship Home (and more)
“As It Is in Heaven?”
I came to the Christian faith by way of the Holiness Pentecostal tradition. Holiness or hell, some would say it was an easy decision. But these days, the North American church makes me look sideways at my religious experience.
2023 Advent Reflection: Peace
I grieve the conflict in the world that renders the lives, homes and cultures of some less valuable than mine. I grieve the death of beloved institutions that needed to die. I grieve the consequences of my own behaviors producing the planet my children will inherit.
Hope and Loss: The Social Justice Gap Left by the Church
These students balance hurt and hope beautifully. They recognize how they have been oppressed and harmed by the church and systems in our world but have a deep sense of hope that things will get better.
December 11, 2023
University of Pennsylvania’s President, and Board Chair Resign as Antisemitism Draws Backlash; Retired NYPD Cops Visited Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birth Home to Take a Picture. They Caught an Alleged Would-be Arsonist; The Guns Were Said to be Destroyed. Instead, They Were Reborn. (and more)
Brittney Griner, Baylor and Running Out of Time
The hermeneutical gymnastics required to include powerful, wealthy men under the umbrella of “Biblical Christianity” are far more complex than those needed to include LGBTQ+ individuals under the same umbrella.
Taylor Swift: The Soundtrack to My Life
Swift is a generation-defining artist who has impacted the music industry and the world for the better.
An Open Letter to Those Who Grieve
In the fullest expression of the incarnation, Jesus came to live among us. In that life, even he understood what it meant to stand before the grave and contemplate his grief. But Jesus also understood that death was not the final word.
Missed Warnings at Pearl Harbor: Lessons for the Church and Country
The way of justice, peace and love are in danger if these signs go unwarranted. If the church loses her witness for love and justice and the country loses democracy, the attack will not be a surprise.
Gaza and the Pitfalls of Binary Thinking
In this fairy tale, there is no room for the Palestinian Jew living along the Gaza Strip or the Israeli Muslim praying for the violence to cease. Everyone gets shoved into an ill-fitting box or erased to maintain a simple plotline.