Gardening is one of the most vital practices for teaching people the art of creaturely life. With this art people are asked to slow down and calibrate their desires to meet the needs and potential of the plants and animalsRead More →
Martin Luther once reflected, in his own down-to-earth way, about how to instruct new believers who already have faith in God as the Father, but who do not as yet believe in the whole Trinity. First, Luther said, encourage themRead More →
Remember the good old days when you didn’t have to lock your doors? When kids could just run outside to play and their parents didn’t have to worry? Those were the days – or maybe not. A Columbia University researcher,Read More →
My wife, Laurel, and I recently celebrated our 56th (I think it was) anniversary. Our children and grandchildren, thankfully, made it possible for us to do it. The event gave me occasion to revisit, in my own mind, a conversationRead More →
Sometimes the longest way ‘round is the shortest way there. I aim to talk about Fenway Park here, but first I want to take you around the world of biblical faith, mediated to us, in this case, through some traditionalRead More →
A dear friend of mine, a congenital Christian activist, Dave Gagne, now of Minneapolis, who has long been a keen observer of American church life as well as of American life in general, happened to see some statistics about theRead More →
Reprinted Essay by Efran Menny for our Continuing Lenten Reflection* …Many witnessed the final moments of Keenan Anderson, a 31-year-old father and teacher tased repeatedly… by an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department. He died just hours later. WhenRead More →
Who would even think about praying all the time? But brace yourself. That’s not only possible. It can be a blessing. Over the years I have developed a practice of prayer, which opens up the promise, I believe, of whatRead More →
When my two kids were young enough so that I could carry both of them in my arms, I sometimes found occasions to pick them up, sing a random ditty that I’d make up on the spot, and dance inRead More →
This may have happened to you. You’re at the airport, about to board your flight. People are milling around in the waiting area. Then everybody suddenly turns their heads and looks in the same direction. Why? Somewhere in the midstRead More →
So, Rachel Maddow is now doing a major series of podcasts. Almost all the people I know of in public life – or maybe half – now have podcasts. What’s a podcast?* Add to the podcasts: many public-minded souls areRead More →
In recent months, I have been unashamedly talking about my new book, EcoActivist Testament: Explorations of Faith and Nature for Fellow Travelers (Cascade), with anyone who might be willing to listen. I have particularly sought out younger friends and coworkers,Read More →
When you were sitting through your last graduation ceremony, your own or a child’s, say, as you were dutifully trying to listen to the commencement speaker, did your mind ever wander? Of course it did. More particularly, did youRead More →
The twentieth-century German playwright, Berthold Brecht, once said something like this: “When I see a beautiful Mediterranean fishing village, with its small white houses etched against the deep blue waters, under the luminescent rays of the brilliant sun, I seeRead More →
This is a question I’ve thought about a lot lately, because I’ve recently been reminded, by my daughter and one of her two daughters, that it’s much on the mind of younger generations these days. While those two key womenRead More →