This Thanksgiving, this Advent, this Christmas let’s be brave enough for love. Forget mere sappiness: the martyrs in Syria love without a trace of false sentiment. The great cathedrals were built with a love tough enough to sweat and sacrifice over generations to create beauty. Love requires courage. Love can work stone, shape rock, and raise lead spires into the sky. These Holy Days should remind us to be brave enough for love. This is a theme in the greatest of... Read more
Evidently giving advice about how to handle the stress of what the Victorians called “social intercourse” with those who do not agree is a thing now. Despite a sneaking suspicion that the number of people actually worried about awkward conversations at dinner is roughly equal to the number of Evangelicals worried about the Starbuck’ red cup (that would be roughly 0% give or take a YouTube video), I shall help with a particularly dangerous sub-group: the white Evangelical middle aged Republican... Read more
We need leaders. Talent we can find, but good leaders have talent with character. I have been blessed to be surrounded at all points in my career and education with leaders, listing seven men was difficult enough, but choosing seven women was nearly impossible. Having a mother and a wife who lead made this list gets me to nine without trying. So here are seven with two. Nancy Balentine is prudent. There is no virtue less in favor just now... Read more
Leadership is easy to describe as an ideal, but the leader who can say with Saint Paul, “Follow my example” is rare. Easy enough to list the failures, but better to be thankful for those who, like Paul, are an example of virtuous leadership that pointed me to Jesus. In another place, I list seven women leaders. Here are the men: George B. Osborne: Boldness Pastor George was a successful business man who decided to give it up and start a Christian school. He... Read more
Times are bad as times often are, yet in the week ahead we will pause in our work and give thanks. Those Americans who can will feast together to celebrate the good things God has given us. Glory to God for all things! Yet for every Rockwell Thanksgiving, every plan that goes well, there will be errors. Mistakes will be made. Those mistakes might be your mistakes and so as an act of public service, I shall “get real” (as... Read more
Here is the official statement: Statement from the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America on the Reception of Refugees in the United States in Light of Recent Terrorist Actions around the World Since the tragic terrorist actions in Paris, Beirut, Mali and elsewhere in the past two weeks, there have been polarized reactions to the reception of refugees, mainly of Syrian nationality, worldwide: an understandable reaction of concern on the one hand, but a sad overreaction of fear on the other. We are all... Read more
These are fearful times, though it is important to remember that times are generally fearful. Media enables us to know tragedies in part of the world as they happen and so things can even seem worse than they are. In my grandparents generation, the events on other continents might remain unknown even to the someone who read both the morning and afternoon papers like my grandparents! Still we face a continued conflict with terrorists. Our economy is sluggish, particularly for... Read more
We cannot love our Islamic neighbor or expect them to come to Christianity through any ministry that misunderstands or lies about their beliefs. The so-called Islamic State (Da’esh) is not much of state and is not mainstream Islam. Don’t be confused. I am a Christian who belongs to a church with no illusions about Islam. If you are not a Christian, you should be. If you are Muslim, I wish you were a Christian. God is real and humanity can know... Read more
If you love Syria, oppose radical relocation as a solution to the problems in Syria. The dream of a multiethnic, religiously diverse, free Syria must not be allowed to die through the barbarism of Daesh (the so-called Islamic State). Let’s not spend twelve times as much on each refugee we relocate in order to leave Syria cleansed of minority groups and moderate Muslims. Apparently some, such as the National Association of Evangelicals, think the only reason to wish a moratorium on taking... Read more
My social media contains two extremes: If you oppose bringing 10,000 more Syrian refugees to the United States, then you are like the people who turned away Jews during the Holocaust or you wish to ban the Christ child from seeking shelter in Egypt. If you support helping the refugees, you are a dupe for the many terrorists hitching a ride with the refugees to kill us. You are in denial that Islam just is the Islamic State. Let me... Read more
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