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September 2019

September 10, 2019

Dear Trump Supporters: Believing Something Doesn’t Make It True

I have grown weary of trying to understand the unquestioning support that Donald Trump receives...

August 2019

August 20, 2019

Will All Things Be Well?

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall...

August 06, 2019

Are We Tending Toward Justice?

I was reminded when I visited the MLK Memorial in Washington DC a couple of...

August 01, 2019

Facing the Greatest Fear of All

Have you never felt like one of those pawns forgotten in a corner of the...

July 2019

July 28, 2019

Robert Mueller, “Hamilton,” and Taking Our Country Back

As millions of other Americans, I awoke last Wednesday intending to binge watch the Mueller...

July 23, 2019

Crows, Ravens, Golden Eagles, and the Holy Spirit

My childhood was filled with unusual characters, all products of my father’s fertile imagination. A...

July 21, 2019

What Dr. Seuss Has to Say About Heresy

Three days after the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT in...

July 16, 2019

The Bible is Not the Word of God. Unless . . .

Frequently, my conservative commenters suggest I will be immediately straightened out if I just “read...

July 13, 2019

You mean THOSE people are my neighbors???

Not long ago, Jeanne and I saw “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, the documentary about...

July 09, 2019

Lessons from the Past About the “Other”

It is clear that immigration and the southern U.S. border are going to be central...

July 05, 2019

A Thankless and Glorious Assignment: Enter if You are Brave Enough

In the early hours of a Sunday morning not long ago, I read the final...

June 2019

June 25, 2019

Getting Old Is God’s Worst Idea

I've been thinking a lot about end of life issues lately. Really. They seem to...

June 23, 2019

Do You Want To Be Free? Face Your Demons

The lectionary readings for today include two fascinating texts from Scripture: Elijah collapsed under a...

June 20, 2019

Faith By the Light of the Moon

Broken windows and empty hallways, a pale dead moon and a sky streaked with gray....

June 18, 2019

If Norway Speaks, Donald Trump Will Listen—but probably not to this

Norway is in the news—last week President Trump mentioned Norway as an example of a...

June 16, 2019

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit walk into a bar: Some thoughts about Trinity Sunday and Ordinary Time

Next to Lent, the part of the liturgical calendar that I have always found least...

June 13, 2019

What My Father Taught Me About Reading and Belief

One of the most important tasks that an author has to face when a book...

June 06, 2019

The Greatest Task of All is to Live

For the past several years my upper-division (juniors and seniors) classes have included an ongoing...

June 03, 2019

When Christianity Becomes an Angry and Fearful Faith

At its best, faith is the overflow of gratitude, the attempt to live as if...

May 2019

May 26, 2019

Do You Want to Be Made Well?

Anyone who reads this blog regularly or even occasionally knows that I love movies. Solidly...

May 25, 2019

A Question for Memorial Day Weekend: Is Democracy Overrated?

It is Memorial Day weekend, a great time to honor those who have made sacrifices...

May 23, 2019

When God Is Silent

Every religion which does not confirm that God is hidden is not true. Blaise Pascal One...

May 19, 2019

To the Graduates . . .

Today is my college's Commencement Day. I've been to more than thirty college graduation events,...

May 09, 2019

I’ll Remember You

There is no greatness where there is no goodness, simplicity, or truth Leo Tolstoy Although Jeanne...

May 07, 2019

Why Did Jesus Like Little Children So Much?

One of the stories that was emphasized regularly in the Baptist Sunday school of my...

May 02, 2019

Does Everything Happen for a Reason? I don’t think so

During the last seminar of the semester in one of my classes this week, my...

April 2019

April 27, 2019

Why Doubt Is My Favorite Virtue

The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty Anne Lamott In the lectionary, the Second...

April 16, 2019

Is the Time of Religion Over?

What is bothering me incessantly is the question of what Christianity really is, or indeed...

April 14, 2019

Blessed Is He Who Comes: A Palm Sunday Reflection

Today is Palm Sunday, one of the most dramatic days on the liturgical calendar. But...

April 12, 2019

Why Christianity is a Mundane Religion

“What’s the difference between chili con carne and chili con queso?” I ask my freshman...

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