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February 2021

February 23, 2021

It’s Been a Year of Wonders

One of the pleasant surprises of the new semester, now four weeks old, is that...

June 2020

June 01, 2020

Riots in the Streets: It’s a Classic Teaching Moment, and I’ve Got Nothing

On Facebook a couple of days ago, I posted this: It's times like these that...

April 2020

April 18, 2020

9/11, the Coronavirus, and Becoming a Better Person

Everyone beyond a certain age can remember clearly what they were doing eighteen-and-a-half years ago...

April 09, 2020

Actually, He Died

Several Christmas Eves ago, Jeanne, Justin and I were invited to share dinner with a...

April 08, 2020

Waiting for an Hour: A Maundy Thursday Meditation

Some people can sleep anywhere. One of those people was a student in one of...

April 02, 2020

“I Don’t Know”: The most profoundly religious statement of all

Let me tell you here first, “trust in God” has never floated my boat as...

March 2020

March 10, 2020

Do You Love Your Life?

Although I read all the time--I once told my ophthalmologist that that I read for...

March 07, 2020

The time, it is a-changin’

For many of us, Daylight Saving Time begins tomorrow at 2:00 am. That's "spring forward,"...

February 2020

February 15, 2020

The Prophet Isaiah Goes to the National Prayer Breakfast

I was the scheduled lector at the 8:00 service last Sunday, the first time I...

December 2019

December 29, 2019

A Family on the Run, and Dead Babies in the Streets

This Christmas season seems more dissonant than most, with violence across the globe, an impeachment...

December 19, 2019

I Will Bring You Home

Baptist preacher’s kids get to do some very odd things. I memorized large portions of...

December 15, 2019

What May We Hope For?

Advent is the liturgical season that is most meaningful to me. I first encountered the...

November 2019

November 12, 2019

One Wife for Seven Brothers: An important lesson from a strange story

A strange story from Luke's gospel was the gospel for the day last Sunday. It...

November 10, 2019

Christianity is not a brand or a demographic

In “Slander,” from her latest collection of essays, What Are We Doing Here?, Marilynne Robinson writes...

November 04, 2019

Surviving the Time Change, and other first world problems . . .

I’m going out on a limb here—way out. I like time changes. This year Daylight...

September 2019

September 03, 2019

What Lies About God Do You Believe?

In Lies We Believe Abut God, Wm. Paul Young (author of The Shack) tells the story of...

August 2019

August 06, 2019

Are We Tending Toward Justice?

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

July 2019

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...

April 2019

April 19, 2019

God Is With Us: A Good Friday Reflection

During the college basketball season, Jeanne and I frequently watch a replay of the Providence...

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...

December 2018

December 27, 2018

Murdering the Innocents: A Different Kind of Christmas Story

This Christmas season seems more dissonant than most, with violence across the globe, a partial...

December 11, 2018

Advent is for Introverts

I was raised in a version of Christianity that had no sense of the liturgical...

July 2018

July 31, 2018

Magnetic Jesus

In one of the many recent books written by an atheist about Christianity (I forget...

July 03, 2018

All Things Shall Be Well?

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

June 2018

June 21, 2018

This is What You are Afraid of

Frederick Buechner says that vocation is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s...

May 2018

May 24, 2018

Ruining the Christian Brand

In “Slander,” from her latest collection of essays, What Are We Doing Here?, Marilynne Robinson...

May 01, 2018

Taking a Moral Holiday

So here we are, a year and a half since Donald Trump was elected President....

April 2018

April 10, 2018

Moral Apocalypse

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. Shakespeare, King Lear This week,...

April 08, 2018

There Was Not a Needy Person Among Them . . .

A couple of days ago, the following from Franklin Graham came across my Twitter feed:...

March 2018

March 29, 2018

Watching for an Hour

"Could you not stay awake with me one hour?" Jesus asked his disciples. It's a...

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