I am told that all across Germany are plaques memorializing places where Jews lived, worked, or worshipped before being sent to the ovens. Auschwitz draws thousands annually to try to insure we “never forget.” German youth face the atrocities of their grandparents, not to foster guilt but to better guard against repeating the horrific sins […]
I appreciate their challenge not to judge the President. But usually mercy is accompanied by justice. “What to Make of Donald Trump’s Soul?” was the title of the editorial in the May issue of Christianity Today. In a featured sentence set in capital letters, editor-in-chief Mark Galli suggests that, “Instead of being quick to speak truth […]
That was the title of the editorial in this month’s Christianity Today. Capital letters proclaimed “Instead of being quick to speak truth to power, we might also, from time to time, speak mercy to the immoral.” And that is my dilemma, virtually a crisis of faith. For fifty years I have lived in the black […]
The most hopeful book I have read in a long while is “Blue Ocean Faith” by Dave Schmelzer. It is fresh air for those tired of today’s self-righteous religion dominated by liberal/conservative antagonisms. And it is as life-giving as the talk my parents gave me at seventeen—that no matter what I encountered in life or […]
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its […]
This is an edited version of a blog by Heather Cox Richardson, Boston College History professor. It seems balanced yet highly concerning, and I wanted to share it widely: “… What I think Bannon is up to might be right, it might be wrong, it might be completely moot because something else will overtake […]
I read recently that if any of us—progressive coastal dwellers or lower-middle class whites—lets anger build up inside, we will perform our daily tasks resentfully, focus on others as the source of our troubles, and probably make it more difficult to find actual solutions.* Today this is a huge problem. My sense is that most […]
Dear friends, Hundreds of you responded to my post about those frightened by this election. I’m not used to this. Thank you all! Most comments were positive, but several good friends were concerned that I was “catering to a spirit of fear,” that people needed instead to be encouraged to trust more in God. These conservative friends seemed to […]
“I am spiritually exhausted. I’ve spent the last 36 hours weeping with those desperately frightened by this election – girls traumatized by fear more boys are emboldened to abuse them, black parents worried their children are more likely to be shot by police, LGBTs who fear open attack on the streets, hardworking Hispanic Christians who fear deportations and family breakups. […]
Amazon Book Review: “The Hitchhiking Diaries is a richly rewarding adventure into unknown territory~both geographically and spiritually. What sets this true story apart from similar youthful wanderings is that the narrator sets out with a focused purpose in his search. Outwardly his intention is to explore an unknown country and its people. Simultaneously, on a […]