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 →
The NY Times recently provided a pop-quiz to invite answers to this now familiar question (12/15/22). It cited a dozen oft-discussed eco-acts aimed to help with that shrinking, such as turning down the heat at night during the winter. WhichRead 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 →
On Sunday November 13, 2022, a group of world religious leaders held a gathering to jointly announce 10 Spiritual Principles for Climate Repentance that they hope will guide our work on behalf of our planet. This took place in London,Read 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 →
The eminent twentieth-century American historian, Perry Miller, once published a study in American history entitled Nature’s Nation. Woody Guthrie gave expression to that theme in his own memorable way: “This land is your land and this land is my land…Read More →
For some time, I have considered ours to be the golden age of ecological theology and Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’, to be perhaps the best single expression of this golden age. I have also long respected the contributionsRead 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 →
Note: I’m repositioning these thoughts here both for card-carrying Christians and for some of my readers who don’t identify with the mission of the Christian Church or perhaps not with any particular faith tradition at all. For thoseRead More →
I am all in favor of spirituality and of spiritual experience more generally. As a matter of fact, I have written a whole book about these matters, Before Nature: A Christian Spirituality (2014). But I’ve always shied away from anyRead 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 →
Back in the day, when I served for a score of years as what we used to call an “urban minister,” I and my neighborhood pastoral partners sometimes used to muse: what makes an urban church urban? Best answer atRead More →
I began talking publicly about caring for creation in my first book, Brother Earth (1970). As the ecotheology movement grew in succeeding decades, that construct, which was never just mine by any means, found a place in the then growing discussionsRead More →