I think one of the cruelest things we tell our children is that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. That speech pattern arises from a people who are more defined by radical individualism than the gospel. To tell our children they can do anything they want to do, be anything they want to be, is built upon the assumption that their lives belong to them. Yet, one of the most basic Christian beliefs is... Read more
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:25 This song is one of my all time favorite versions of Jesus’s straight up command that we have to lose to win, we have to die to live. What makes it so powerful is that Tweedy – who is not a preacher but a rock and roll star – seems to intuit the fact that dying to ourselves... Read more
There are two simple steps our nation’s representatives could take which would drastically change for the better the way the U.S. Government works. These two steps would curtail some of the paralyzing gridlock, force the governing process out into the open, and require ideas, legislation, and politicians to stand on the merits of their arguments. The two steps are: 1) End the Senate Filibuster and Anonymous Hold; 2) Ban Corporate Political Donations. End the Filibuster and Anonymous Holds – The... Read more
Most of us will spend somewhere around 65% of our waking hours working. If work is not seen as a holy thing, if work is not counted as an essential aspect of our contribution to the mission of God, then no wonder our work isn’t fulfilling. No wonder it feels like toil. Work is one of the most significant ways a human being can participate in the mission of God. Churches do a great disservice to their congregations when they... Read more
I confess that when I was young many adults in my little world held MLK in deep suspicion. He was not considered a great man by them. I often heard statements like, “Once the FBI files on MLK are opened, the world will really see what he was like. And they won’t be celebrating him so much.” I confess that I believe this was rooted in racism. I confess that I have never suffered for anything the way MLK suffered... Read more
I am an unabashed logophile (n. – lover of words). The English language is a tough one to master even for those of us who have been using it our whole life. For some this is merely frustrating. For others her idiosyncrasies make English fascinating and multifarious (adj. – ‘to having many parts; diverse and varied’). And yet the typical person in our culture uses only a scintilla (n. – a small fraction; a minute particle or trace) of this resplendent (adj.... Read more
The “liberal cause” is a pejorative colloquialism meant to signify an attempt to assist a person, group, or issue for whom those who are not liberal, or just don’t go in for causes, would consider helping to be silly, sentimental, or even morally wrong. Labeling things a “Liberal Cause” is something folks like Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh do constantly. Liberal Causes are things that Matt Damon and George Clooney support. I’ve always disliked the phrase because I do not consider myself... Read more
I just waded through 10 minutes of Christian hate on Facebook and had to shut it down for the day. We are so jacked up. Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Mt. 7) In other words, Jesus says we do not judge other people because we are always guilty of the... Read more
I ran across a video today of Wendell Berry reading a couple poems from his collection of poems called Leavings. I thought it looked familiar and realized that I was in the audience in Louisville, KY the evening this clip was filmed. It’s from the Louisville Institute Sabbatical Consultation in 2010. It was one of the most stimulating weekends I’ve had in my lifetime. We were treated to two days of conversation with Norman Wirzba and an evening with Wendell... Read more
Hope can be elusive. Nothing is more destabilizing to a person than when they reach for hope and it isn’t there. I think perhaps no work of art I’ve ever encountered captures the tenuous and precious strands that keep us tethered to hope like Shawshank does. I learned from it – from this last scene in particular – that hope is based not in the dispositions of the heart, but in relationship. Hope is no less tethered to “the other”... Read more
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