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Ashes
Ashes (Day 1 of A Simple Lent) Today isn’t a normal day. I wake up early, before the sun rises. I get dressed with extra layers and I prepare to share a public invitation. An invite to the anti-party. No loud music or dancing. The food is meeger. It isn’t an invite ordinarily welcomed. I…
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How We Balance Life and Death On One Word
The Supreme Court has let us off the hook again. I don’t really think we’re cruel people. But the evidence again proves me wrong. The Supreme Court, in its 8-1 decision in Kansas v. Carr did not rule on a landmark Death Penalty case. It is only landmark for those three persons on death row who…
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The Question of the Moment
For supporters of Donald Trump: Is radical candor so important to you that you are willing to support someone whose words are so ugly, divisive, and completely destructive? For everyone else: Can you see how important candor and open communication is that many people will answer this question with “yes”?
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Christmas Message 2015
Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. When we tell the birth story of Jesus, we speak of this unlikely couple with a very unlikely pregnancy; a trip to Bethlehem with its…
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Anecdotes Are Not Reality
We love anecdotes. They say profound things about our lives and how they are lived. And we are full of them. Just ask someone about politics or religion and see what you get. In my world, so many use anecdotes to speak for where the church needs to go in the future. This has led…
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Rob Bell on Politics and Guns: “We don’t do despair”
In a series of episodes on The RobCast called simply “Politics and Guns,” Rob Bell deals with many of the issues surrounding the politics of guns in the United States. He begins with perhaps the most important starting place: politics. [bctt tweet=”‘Don’t pretend that nothing can be done.’” nofollow=”yes”] Through the arc of the series, Bell…
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The Poisoned City
Two years with toxic water. That’s how long the former emergency manager expected the people of Flint to drink poison. Of course he didn’t know. But he should have. They should have tested the Flint River, the old system, the water coming out of people’s taps before they chose to make it a two-year stop-gap…
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The word terrorism should not be useful
It is descriptive. We can define terrorism as “The deliberate commission of an act of violence to create an emotional response through the suffering of the victims in the furtherance of a political or social agenda.” The textbook definition doesn’t say anything about Islam. [bctt tweet=”‘If we are to speak of terrorism as a useful…