Spirituality
Red Letter Revolution ( A Review )
You might not want to read this book. It will make you angry. It will make you shake your head in disagreement. And it will probably make you realize that there are some things about your life that you need to change. So if you want to read something you’ll agree with that will make…
Read MoreA Faith of Our Own (A Review)
Probably the most common metaphor used in conversations about generations and culture is the dreaded pendulum. “Beware of the pendulum effect!” some wise person will invariable interject into the conversation. “Because your parents were too strict, you’ll be tempted to go and become all liberal.” Whether it’s political involvement, theology, or child rearing techniques, we…
Read MoreJesus is My Candidate?
We’re almost there. November is coming, and with it Election Day. Then maybe all this will subside. Right now you can’t go anywhere – in real life or on the internet – without being bombarded by politics. It’s the worst sort too: ugly, deceitful, angry, self-righteous politics from every corner. But what if, instead of…
Read MoreIncoherent Mumbled Prayers
“God, give me grace for today.” I don’t remember if I said it aloud, or just felt it trudge through my mind as a tired prayer. In that moment between looking at the clock on my phone and willing my frame into a vertical position, it was just there. This is an improvement . There have…
Read MoreThe Prodigal Father
You know the story. There was a son who got tired of living on the family farm and decided to chase the big city lights. After a whirlwind summer, he stumbled home broke and broken, too ashamed to look his father in the eyes. But when he was still a speck on the horizon, his…
Read MoreIn the Beginning God
In the beginning, God. Really, this is the perfect way to start. It’s easy to get caught up in all the details of the Bible and forget how it begins. Not as a theological dissertation. Not as a scientific revelation. Not as a book of rules. No, it’s a story. And it starts with God.…
Read MoreThe Myth of Closure
Eleven years ago, Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection. They say that as he took his last breath, he stared open-eyed and unremorseful into the closed circuit camera capturing his final moments. Six hundred miles away, the families of his victims gathered to watch McVeigh’s execution. Maybe it would give them some closure. I…
Read MoreSo Help Me God (Almost a Poem)
Ernest Hemmingway once said, “There’s nothing to writing…. all you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” I think he might have been onto something. Words bleeding into life, snow bleeding into hope, day bleeding into night then back into day again. God said that life and blood are inseparably linked, which might…
Read MoreI'm Sorry I Hated You
Jesus had a way of putting profound truth into just a few words. One time he summarized the entirety of the Bible by saying “Love God with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself.” In these two commands lie the essence of all Christian spirituality. I’ve been thinking about empathy lately, and about how…
Read MoreChristianity: It's Not a Religion, It's a Relationship
You’ve heard it before. It tops the list of “Stuff Christians Say”. I know I’ve said it. But it’s not true. The intention is honorable enough; we want to differentiate Christianity from other belief systems. We’re trying to express the fundamental difference between our faith and other faiths; that is, the unmerited offer of free…
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