I have never been a very good liar. I rarely even try it. Lying, for me, is like an exercise bike, covered in cobwebs, sitting in the basement. But this year, starting on January 1st and continuing through 2016, my New Year’s resolution is to be unabashed in my dedication to lying. I resolve to lie to myself and to you with all the seeming credibility with which I have been lied to by others in the media, in community, and... Read more
What wisdom I have Awakens me to my blindness. I cannot see light itself: What I know of light Is only an alluring shadow Of what it is and does. From billions of years away in space-time, Through darkness intervening, At its inconceivable speed The light of an exploding star passes Through the dark seas of my eyes, Illuminating the dark curves of their retinas. But I cannot see the glow of their cells: I can only perceive the messages... Read more
Even the darkest and shortest days have no dominion over the light that is growing longer and stronger. Joy to the world! It is time to lighten-up! Read more
The year 2015 brought Patheos bloggers — and especially our passionate Progressive Christian bloggers — plenty to write and rant about, from discriminatory cake bakers to sexually-abusive fundamentalists to Olympic-winning transgenders. We pushed back on the notion of “Christian persecution” in America, grieved way too many mass shootings, and raged on behalf of way too many murdered black youth, men and women at the hands of white cops. We celebrated when same-sex marriage became the law of the land, shook our heads when... Read more
5:00am text messages that read, “please call me, its urgent” are harbingers of unfortunate news, and this one, received on the second week of December was no different. After making the call and finding out the details the heaviness of it all began to sink in. A beloved lay leader in our church, who was highly involved in our faith formation ministry for children and youth, had passed away suddenly. Death comes with a heaviness at any time, but the... Read more
An argument with the spouse: his small, innocent observation unleashes the ghost of a thousand arguments past, complete with its burden of chains. Marriage is like that sometimes: after two or three decades together, every fight recapitulates all fights. I hate feeling this way: poverty. The end of the semester. The beginning, and for that matter, the middle. Doing everything this job requires feels impossible. I passed “tired” long ago and have moved on to “flesh and bone and soul... Read more
The first mosque I visited had a bullet hole in the outside placed there a drive-by shooter while adults and children were inside having a prayer service. It reminded me of the bomb that killed four black children at a church in Alabama in 1963. We, as a nation, eventually found better ways to address the violence, hatred and terror of segregation and we will also find better ways to address the violence, fear and terror of Islam that has... Read more
I had no idea what to expect. As my wife and I began the trek from Berkeley across the bay to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, I was curious and excited. The closer we got on our mass transit journey the more we were surrounded by people, a sense of excitement, and an unspoken camaraderie. We got off our final bus and moved along the streets in a throng of humanity pouring towards the large open field that was... Read more
I had a religious experience at Macy’s department store in New York City when I took my four year old son there to meet Santa. It was a Saturday morning. There were billions of us (I’m not exaggerating) standing between two yellow lines of tape on the floor which led to a far away door. We followed the yellow tape road. In the distance, in red and green neon letters, a sign said, SantaLand! It seemed like forty minutes passed... Read more
What is monastic spirituality and what might it offer us and the world today? Author Carl McColman has written a beautiful new book that, while focusing on one particular order of monasticism, the Cistercians, reveals the very heart and soul of monastic life and practice. In doing so, he presents a radically counter-cultural expression of living in the world; one that makes us stop and pause, and contemplate, if you will, the hidden jewels of the monks and nuns. I talked with... Read more
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