Yesterday, the beloved Wendell Berry died at age 92. He was an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Many of us profited greatly from his various writings, always being challenged by him to pay better attention to what is happening around us, and to do what we could for the good of all things, no matter how small. And he could always comfort: “The impeded stream is the one that sings.” A friend and I were texting about his pas

This coming Friday, August 28, I will be with – hopefully – thousands of others on the Mall in Washington, D.C., marching with the “Defend the Vote” protest. It is exactly the 63rd anniversary of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We march to defend the vote, because voting rights are under attack and the protections generations fought, bled, and died for are being weakened. We march to defend civil rights, because attacks on diversity

Sunday in church we sang the familiar “Amazing Grace”, written by converted slave ship captain John Newton. Everyone knows the hymn. Our congregation is largely upper-middle-class, mostly made up of the baby boomer generation. As we sang the first line, in which Newton declares his amazement at the thought that God would save “a wretch like me”, I considered whether I had been or am a wretch. I looked around, wondering how many in the congregation would identify themselves

I was born, raised, and trained in a strong evangelical (Reformed) community. I spent the first 25 years of my adult life ministering formally from that community. Now, I do not call myself evangelical. That is not because I think the community was/is not well-intentioned and has everything wrong. Rather, I am convinced the community has aligned itself with modern Western culture more than it recognizes and is willing to admit, and that this alignment has produced some bad fr

Rethinking "O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus" and the direction of the biblical story. Recently my lectionary devotional app played a classic hymn - O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus. (See lyrics below). I remember it well from my growing-up years. We sang it regularly at home and church. I could probably sing every part and most of the lyrics without a book. When I hear it today, those memories go deep. But other thoughts arise after 40+ years of life experience, during whic

A couple of days ago, I wrote to the Rev. Dr. Albert Mohler, of the podcast The Briefing, about his comments regarding the Trump decoy flight out of Turkey last month and the story that broke this week of the resignation of Dr. Jason Arday, professor at Cambridge University in England. Arday resigned due to investigations into alleged serious plagiarism, academic qualifications, and honorary appointments. There were also serious questions about the truth of things he had said

During the last few years, I have been sourcing my prayers from a variety of ethnic, cultural, and religious traditions. Sometimes the prayers are as good as – or better than – the Bible! But that makes perfect sense to me, because I take literally and seriously the declarations of the Bible that Jesus has created all things and is holding all things together (Col. 1), that “in him we move and have our being” (Acts 17 – note: a quote from a Greek philosopher which found its w

As you may know, I listen regularly to white evangelical leaders in the hope that they will lead us through the times in which we find ourselves with truth and clarity. I would like to hear them show us how to live in a pluralistic society in which white evangelicals are not in the majority, as was the case in the first couple of centuries of the Christian church. I occasionally respond to podcasts, as I did to a podcast of the Rev. Dr. Al Mohler called The Briefing, a daily

I am reading a book called The Gospel According to Eve (2019) by the Rev. Dr. Amanda Benckhuysen (what a great Dutch name!). The book...

Bruce [i] Onobrakpeya (b. 1936) is a celebrated Nigerian painter and printmaker. Onobrakpeya pioneered bronzed lino relief and metal...

In light of the – not optimistic – scenarios that lie before us, those who do not sink into despair want a Plan. What are we going to do?...

“The universe is a cosmic dance of energy…Everything we humans do is about energy.” (pg 240) Energy comes from sunlight, liquids, food...

It is a great temptation nowadays to respond to the “outrage of the day”. (Just in the last week free speech and due process rights have...

“We live in a time of stunning and contagious collective stupidity [i] . Anti-Nazi German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Letters...

Imagine what a “safe landing” would look like in a swirling, stormy world, in which we experience “economic meltdown, climate countdown,...

We left you last chapter with a question: you may wonder if McLaren is too negative about Western civilization. Is there nothing that...

We return to our summary of Brian McLaren's Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart . To read previous chapter...

On January 9 the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) through their North American church planting arm (Mission to North America) posted...

Joanna Macy, Ph.D, is a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking and deep ecology. She is a respected voice and activist in peace, justice...

Theologian Sallie McFague (1933–2019) centers compassionate change in a passionate love for God: At the center of Jesus’ message as...