July 4, 2018

    “An alarmingly large segment of our society simply has no access to wisdom. In the absence of genuine wisdom, the job of the leader is to provide that wisdom for the people, not to stoke and exploit their ignorance. Sadly that’s not where we are right now. We are going to continue to disintegrate as a society without wise leadership.” As I scan Twitter and the blogs this 4th of July, I see two things: the cynicism of... Read more

July 2, 2018

I confess that I’ve got a bunch of books going at once right now. This seems to be a summer thing for me. My reading is a little scattered because summer is so irritating and hot that I’m usually looking for a distraction that fits the particularities of my current (bad) mood. Summer sucks. I’ve already started a Monday Morning Confessional on why Summer is the worst season… but, back to my reading. Here’s the list. I’m slow-reading Ronald Rolheiser’s... Read more

June 25, 2018

I confess that I think supporting Donald Trump because “we need to shake things up in Washington” is like saying, “Our kids need to make some changes. Let’s put Hulk Hogan in charge of them.” I’m really tired of that narrative. It’s irresponsible. I confess that I believe it has never been more important to be vigilant about the news. We need to stay informed. This is not a left or right thing. This is a human thing. Donald Trump... Read more

June 20, 2018

Peace is not pragmatic. It’s not a strategy or procedure put into effect in order to engineer a desired outcome. Peace is the outcome. I’m slow-reading Stanley Hauerwas’ book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer called Performing the Faith. The introduction begins with this long quote from Bonhoeffer. He was writing these notes and lectures in Germany during the rise to power of the National Socialists. The NS party members were subverting norms, scapegoating minorities, and pushing the boundaries of German culture to... Read more

June 18, 2018

I confess that I’ve been a terrible blogger lately. I confess that I have started and then not finished at least three dozen blog posts in the past few months. Usually  I write to explore my own thoughts. Lately, however, I don’t seem to finish articles the way I used to. I confess that the reason I don’t finish many articles, is that I’m afraid to post what I’m thinking. I’m afraid it will hurt people close to me. I’m... Read more

May 11, 2018

I was nineteen years old when I showed up to work for a summer at Kanakuk camp outside of Branson, MO. I had my dates wrong, and was a full day early. So one of my supervisors, Doug Goodwin, let me tag along with him on his 24 hour break. Before we left he was clearing off his desk and searching for an envelope containing $150 in petty cash. He needed the money to buy supplies for an upcoming camp... Read more

April 20, 2018

I took my oldest son to buy his first suit last night. His eighth grade graduation is coming up, and his school does a few dressy events. He rejects any kind of clothes shopping as a matter or course, but he was a pretty good sport. As I stood behind him at the mirror, decked out in his entire outfit, now nearly as tall as me, strong and kind, full of life and changing–changing so very fast–I had to choke... Read more

March 25, 2018

If I could require every Christian to read one book about the gospel, the church and what it means to be a Christian, it would be Resident Aliens. This spiritual classic by Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon has become one of the central texts for my life as a disciple and as a pastor. I teach adjunct at a local seminary and usually try to find a way to assign this as a text for pretty much any class I... Read more

February 15, 2018

“My message to lawmakers in Congress is: Please! Take action. Ideas are great. Ideas are wonderful, and they help you get re-elected and everything. But what’s more important is actual action, and pertinent action that results in saving thousands of children’s lives … We can say, yes, we’re going to do all these things… thoughts and prayers. What we need more than that is action. Please! This is the eighteenth one [school shooting] this year. That’s unacceptable! We’re children. You... Read more

February 12, 2018

“Each of us aches for significance, meaning, uniqueness, preciousness, immortality, and great love and great beauty in our lives. This yearning is congenital and incurable. We are as Plato said, fired into life with this divine restlessness in us. But our madness comes… when the pressure for a cure for our mortality and insignificance gets too great and we fabricate the vital lie. We try, through our own efforts, to create significance, uniqueness, and immortality for ourselves. In the Protestant... Read more


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