A dying thief teaches a living faith: grace needs no magic prayer, perfect theology, or religious scorecard to open paradise. It’s amazing the people you can learn from, isn’t it? I’ve learned from the pious and impious, from saints and sinners. And from a thief I learned that you can’t always tell those two categories of people apart. In fact, the dying thief in Luke 23 (MSG) has taught me several surprising things. Jesus was crucified between two thieves, who... Read more
Donald Trump understands one thing better than many pastors: religious imagery works. Not theology. Not discipleship. Just Imagery. He knows that if you hold up a Bible, stand in front of a church, and say “God,” you can turn faith into branding, and turn branding into cash. You can smile for the camera, wrap what’s sacred in a flag, and watch a scary number of Christians fall in line like sheep to the slaughter because they’ve forgotten the difference between... Read more
The Bible says God is love. But when everyone claims to act in love, how do we know when “love” is actually God? When Good Feels Like God Wayne Dyer once wrote, “Feeling good is feeling God—our good feelings align us with Spirit.” Contrary to many religious notions, God is not the enemy of joy or a deity satisfied only when we wear a sour face. If “every good and perfect gift comes from above,” then we can often recognize... Read more
Prayer beads and shared laughter showed me two ancient human powers that can interrupt violence with love. What do you do to pass the time when your flight is delayed, and you’re stuck on the plane waiting? If you’re my wife, who has never met a stranger, you strike up a conversation with the man seated next to you. She wasn’t flirting—she noticed something about him that she knew I’d like to discuss and immediately connected us. The man, who... Read more
These days, it seems everyone wants to be strong. But true power means more than defeating enemies. It means mastering yourself. The world loves the kind of strength that makes the headlines. It reckons winners and losers by votes tallied, trophies lifted, and headlines that shout who beat whom. This kind of strength can be impressive, but it’s also fragile. The tighter our grip, the more it depends on someone else losing. Power is Quiet Self-Mastery Power, according to the... Read more
April 17 is International Haiku Poetry Day. What is the history of haiku? How can Christians benefit from this simple practice? Many of us learned haiku in school as a way of creating poetry with little pressure. The pattern is simple: three lines of simple verse. Five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third line. That’s it. As an exercise in creative writing, it stretches the imagination. But have you considered how... Read more
There’s nothing wrong with bivocational ministry, but it does come with a few pitfalls. In my last article, I made the case for part-time ministry. What are they, and how can you avoid them? To be fair, bivocational ministry has its own risks. I would do you a disservice if I presented the pros of a part-time pastorate without also discussing the dangers. But, in my mind, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. My last article listed twelve pros, but... Read more
Most who feel called to ministry dream of big churches. But have you considered the benefits of bivocational ministry in a small congregation? I know, I know—the thought of bivocational ministry gives aspiring megachurch pastors more than a touch of indigestion. I feel this deeply. When I was in seminary, I had similar dreams of glory. To me, becoming full-time clergy was the only “real” way to be a pastor. So, that’s what I did—and for most of my twenty-six... Read more
The Bible offers a “top 6 list” of things MAGA Christians should embrace if they want to achieve greatness. But will they listen? MAGA Christians spend a lot of time warning us about dangerous things like empathy, immigrants, libraries, and occasionally the teachings of Jesus. In the interest of unity, I’d like to help. Here is a short list of things they currently dislike—and the inconvenient reasons their own faith says they should probably care about them. 1. Immigrants... Read more
In movies, holy water burns vampires like acid. In the real world, people scald their enemies with faith that ought to nourish, not kill. Last week, I observed that movie-holy-water requires one thing to be effective: it needs monsters. Otherwise, it remains in the font, blessing babies. But what happens if you don’t have vampires or demons close at hand? Then, you’re tempted to bring your spiritual heroics closer to home and declare fellow human beings to be the devil... Read more
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