One thing is clear since this past Tuesday: this won’t be politics as normal. Some who prayed for God to direct this election may not comfortable with this new news. All of us, no matter our location, should wonder, “Is God changing, or are we?” Some believe God does...

To conclude this three-part series, Jesus makes three things clear: a.) there are laws, b.) there is love, and c.) laws and love are not the same. As the religious elite, the Pharisees embodied the law as The Big Deal. Their priority was to uphold the laws established so long...

  Last week in the first of this three-part blog series, I mentioned my parents’ marriage. Far from perfect yet equally far from disastrous, they were what we all are—and that’s human. Jesus speaks to our human nature in the Holy text I brought to this column last week and...

  The maid of honor at my parents’ June 30, 1962 wedding said the couple wouldn’t make it. Why? The two had had what must have been a doozy of an argument at the wedding rehearsal the night before their Big Day. My parents would be married today if my...

A question often asked when we travel is, “Where are you from?” Here I invite you to rethink your answer. You may want to locate yourself exactly where you are, which is, like Jesus, on the border. The historical Jesus was a Galilean. “Historical Jesus,” for any unfamiliar with the...

An educated, treasured professional I deeply admire for her open eyes and level thinking summed up last week’s Senate event by saying, “The handling of this [meaning the Judge Brett Kavanaugh hearing], and the discourse, has been deeply disconcerting. I fear we, as a nation, have reached a point of...

The ordinary day suddenly wasn’t ordinary. And like any ordinary day that suddenly wasn’t ordinary, this one felt weird, unnerving. I had pulled into a high school parking lot to a find a phone number on my cell phone. I wanted to be off the main road to do this....

Jesus asks His disciples the same two questions He asks each of us (Mark 8:27-30). Timeless, the questions are significant because they reach into us as much as they did to the first who heard them. As they’re moving from one city to another, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do...

I met an educator who freely admits to her imperfections, yet she looks at the church to be perfect, or nearly perfect. She wouldn’t say the following outright, but she thinks church should be far, far better than it is. She can have flaws, but the church shouldn’t. Like you,...

It’s a common hall, a nothing-to-take-your-breath-away community space. Low ceilings. Florescent lights. Non-worship stuff is stored there from folded and stacked conference tables to GAME ON beach balls to materials used to make Ugly Quilts. Don’t forget the many bulletin boards aimed for—and designed by—the kiddos. Hardly space for worship....