I learned that all truth is God’s truth whether it comes from the Apostle Paul or Sigmund Freud. The problem isn’t in the Biblical text or the scientific data, the problem is in our interpretation. I learned to not be afraid to explore and experience the world. God is truth and any truth I found would be a part of God.
Read MoreWhat if God's movement in the world happens in the chaos rather than some disconnected utopia available to only a select few? What if the sacred emerges from messiness, not perfection?
Read MoreWith all the ways that the Bible and Jesus have been co-opted for bad politics and abusive behavior, we can’t afford to let this one slide. We must be clear about how the Bible has authority, not just make it an unquestioned authority.
Read MoreWhen faith is about appearance, entitlement and exclusion, it is deadly. It deserves the strongest of rebukes. Followers of Jesus must be vigilant about choosing love not exclusion, aligning with the margins of our world, blessing the world with goodness and generosity.
Read MoreWhile we landed in different places of practice and profession of faith, both George and I were in the conversation of faith. In fact, I take great joy and comfort from the conversation of George’s life. He never left the conversation, even if he was sometimes a frustrating and antagonistic conversation partner.
Read MoreGeorge was at best agnostic about the reality of God. Growing up with a legalistic religion that rejected science, he preferred to put his confidence in science and mathematical proofs. But George was also a lover of poetry and immersed himself in beauty. He would take me to lunch and we would share theological questions and ideas. When George passed, his wife Anne, a dear friend and modern day mystic, invited me to preach at his memorial service.
Read MoreIn changing traditions, I changed understandings of baptism. I honor both as beautiful in their own way. I’m so glad that I remember my baptism. And there is nothing more beautiful that water on the head of an infant, declaring “You belong to God.”
Read MoreThis is how I’ve put randomness and meaning together. It hasn’t prevented me from suffering, but it has helped me hold it with honesty and integrity. May it help you find your way through the beauty and pain of this world as well.
Read MoreMy friend who is a hospice chaplain once told me she couldn’t go to any church with a pastor who had a simplistic understanding of suffering. That has always haunted me. But I agree with her. A theology that does’t work in deep suffering doesn’t work.
Read MoreI’m pretty sure I have witnessed miracles and divine interventions, but I am slow to give them a lot of credit. I don’t think God is somewhere pulling strings giving me the good parking space in front of the Pilates studio while a hurricane is decimating a village in Mexico. So, I stay open to mystery, but I don’t hold God responsible for what happens.
Read MoreThis is why, despite all the frustration that it can bring, I still believe in church. It is a place where the rhythms of self-reflection and community come together in a powerful way to sand down the edges of our lives. We get to see God show up when we are all gaining wisdom together, and the world is changed.
Read MoreBaseball is just a game, but I think for those of us who love it, it is also a practice of Sabbath. It’s a break from our routines that opens a space in our reality for something new and unexpected. It helps us remember that as my grandpa always said, “Any given team can win on any given day.” We live in the possibilities of this present at bat and know that whatever happens, there will be another game tomorrow.
Read MoreWhat if Christianity doesn’t offer a formula for belief but a living conversation that carries us across our lives and traditions? What if it is the conversation that saves you and not the confession?
Read MoreSo many of us are stuck reacting against a way of faith that wasn’t ever fit for true soulful human habitation. We have been told that we have to choose to stay open to the world or closed in a system of belief.
Read MoreAs you can see, I don’t have much patience for dispensationalism, but I cannot deny its cultural power. Being educated in its institutions and churches, I recognize the seeds it sowed in our current political state. Those who do not even know the word dispensationalism are swayed by the way it has been proclaimed as the totality of the Christian message.
Read MoreYou have always done what needed to be done. All your days were spent tilling a livelihood. Scanning the horizon of wheat fields, you knew when it was time to go or stay. You trusted in closely held routines and customs to define and comfort you. Thank you for being the reliable ones and for the long years of work that fed two nations.
Read MoreI’m interested in the full spectrum of my ancestral history. The ways in which they showed tenacity and courage, alongside the ways in which they were victims of and contributors to systems of oppression. It’s all there and one does not negate the other, but you can’t tell one without the other.
Read MoreSo, slide those envelopes across the table. Write a note. Pick up the phone. Send a text. Give a gift. The world needs a sustaining word and there is no one but us to speak it.
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