Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
When a picture circulated of comedian Ellen DeGeneres sitting with former President George W. Bush during a Dallas Cowboys football game, it raised some eyebrows and questions. As Ellen said, in a USA Today story, people asked themselves, “Why is this gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president?” The implication seemed to …
There is no monopoly on common sense On either side of the political fence We share the same biology, regardless of ideology Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children too. –Sting, from his album, Dream of the Blue Turtles, 1985 For those old enough to remember when it …
Abraham Lincoln followed a vision that transcended partisanship. In his second inaugural address, with the Union’s victory assured, he could have piled on. He could have condemned the South and spoken about an eye for an eye. Indeed, our current political climate would have repeatedly fostered animosity through endless tweets. But Lincoln saw the bigger …
Old-fashionedly, I have an aversion to foul language. Maybe I’m too sensitive, but it seems like there’s been an exponential increase in the use of it over the last few years. Every popular show or movie seems to have a script calling for interesting variations of the f-word. Maybe my language-prudishness comes not just from …
According to an article in the Christian Post, the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church recently passed a resolution affirming belief that God created the world “in six natural days.” This might come as a surprise to the Creator, since we know earth to be over four billion years old. There’s irrefutable proof of that, as Bill …
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…” The preamble of our Constitution starts with a plural subject, “we the people.” It goes on to specify the reasons for the document. Domestic tranquility. Justice. Defense. General welfare. The purpose is to move a group of individuals to covenant …
The Ten Commandments form the foundation for honoring God and relating to fellow humans. After reading The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks, though, I think we could add a couple of others for the era in which we live. Brooks, a journalist and commentator, offers a candid glimpse into …
Light shone down from heaven in a seminary classroom one afternoon. It’s stuck with me all these years. The theology prof provided this moment of clarity when he said that there are basically only two theological orientations. We all fall, in varying degrees, into one of them. He called one “redemptionist.” This is the group …
I’m writing this on Memorial Day, 2019. Soon I’ll be offering an invocation at a community service where we commemorate the sacrifices of those who’ve died for our country. This has caused me to reflect on the relationships I’ve had with veterans and their families through the years. I remember the World War Two veterans. …
Summers in rural Missouri held one fun diversion: lookout towers. These are now relics of a past, pre-satellite, era. It was when rangers would sit 150 feet up, scanning for forest fires. It was also when country kids would stair-step those 150 feet to get a bird’s view of the Ozark Mountains. For me, though, …