Many Christians today act as if Jesus gave a great suggestion instead of a great commission. Read more
Many Christians today act as if Jesus gave a great suggestion instead of a great commission. Read more
I’ve had the privilege of participating in a book study group at Schole House, a center for Christian thought at VCU. As we’ve started this summer, one of the books we’ve decided to read through is C. S. Lewis’s classic volume, The Abolition of Man. In the first chapter (or essay) in the book, “Men Without Chests,” Lewis shares his concerns about what was starting to be taught in upper schools in England, particularly in his time. These invasive curricula... Read more
A recent controversy at the Southern Baptist Convention reminds us that living out Christian principles sometimes means repudiating our own. Read more
Nighttime was especially dangerous on the West Bank – we always tried to get back home to Bethlehem in our little VW Beetle before dark. As foreigners living among the Arabs, we felt vulnerable, although our neighbors were friendly and supportive. But they could do little to help us if anyone wanted to visit harm upon us. Even if we had a telephone (which we didn’t) there were no police to call for help. When the first “Intifada” (Arab uprising)... Read more
Different sounds accompany great disasters. An earthquake begins with the rumble of heaving earth and the crack of fissured faults, followed by the cacophony of books falling off shelves, dishes clattering to the floor, roofs collapsing, and houses sliding off their foundations. A tsunami’s whoosh is quieter, but far more deadly: the ocean itself rises up to wash away automobiles, trains, forests, and entire towns. Radiation from a nuclear meltdown makes no sound at all, yet somehow the silence amplifies... Read more
As I welcomed Easter parishioners, I noted the normalcy of the morning. A typical Seattle April day with high clouds and a slight chill, families arrived in three generational clusters. Teens looked as if they should have stayed in bed. Singles approached shyly. The day, however, was anything but ordinary for me. After a year of isolation following a bone marrow transplant, I was serving as a greeter. For far too long, I had not been allowed to touch anyone... Read more
“When we define, we seem in danger of circumscribing nature within the bounds of our own notions…” –Edmund Burke “Poetry is the mother-tongue of the human race.” –Johann Georg Hamann Given in explanation of the above title is the illustration of two football players recalling with boisterous self-congratulation the events of a recent win. While speaking the players make exaggerated gestures, describing the size of one’s would-be tackler as “big as a gorilla” and the other’s stretching the ball over... Read more
He was the same person in private as he was in public. Read more
Watching the Winter Olympics from South Korea brought to mind someone I met at a book exposition several decades ago. Read more
If God has given His metaphoric thumbs up to sexual relations for purposes other than populating the planet, it is nonetheless true that the Bible is replete with admonitions against sex. Read more
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