Spirituality in Culture
The Gospel of Grantham
If you want to know what a nerd I am, I’m going to tell you. About 80% of the status updates in my newsfeed on Sunday were from friends engaged in a “Downt-down.” (I crack myself up). That is, a countdown to the season 3 premier of ‘Downton Abbey.’ The other 20% were something to […]
A Prayer for World AIDS Day
Eight years ago, I went on a small mission trip to Swaziland, a tiny little kingdom in southern Africa, a (scary) 5-hour drive east of Johannesburg. One in four adults there is HIV positive–and that is just reported cases–ranking that country’s rate of infection among the highest in the world. Poverty and gender inequality were, and remain, […]
Like a Child
When the kids hit that tiny carpet square in Worship and Wonder, they say some of the most profound, prophetic and challenging things you’ll ever hear. I’m grateful for adult leaders who know how to hear their words as what they are–gospel–and not as just the cute stuff that kids say. If you ask me, children have a far greater range of spiritual motion than adults do. Again, not because they are ‘good,’ or pure, but because it is simply a gift of childhood to live with and accept that which is too great for reason, logic, or a business plan.
Fearfully, Wonderfully
Can’t wait to get home and watch the Hunger Games! Wait..I mean, the Olympics.
The Great American Road Trip
What is it that keeps us moving? What are we looking for? I’ve wondered about this all my life. When we’ve got literally everything we could ever want or need at our fingertips, why do so many of us keep wandering the varied landscape, as if it can tell us some deep and abiding truth […]
GCB: The Good, the Gag-me, and the Gospel
I love the GCB. And it bugs me. And I love to let it bug me. Lots of people don’t love it, and I kind of get why. For one thing, it is not super well-written. The main character is sort of flat. I don’t think she’s a bad actress, really…they just aren’t writing her very […]
S*^! Jesus Says… Or Doesn’t
I just dropped a book, picked it up, and then proceeded to trip over a bike rack, all in a span of about 7 seconds. And all in public, of course. Yesterday, I got my calendar wires crossed and missed a meeting with someone who drove nearly an hour to see me. Also, I spent […]
A Handful of Change
Recession, re-shmession. I know it’s tough out there. I know people have lost jobs and healthcare coverage. I know firsthand that, practically overnight, some of our homes were suddenly worth nothing. Not even what we spent on new landscaping. I know that people have been displaced, heartbroken, cheated, and kicked around in general by the […]
Louder and Less Polite
It is not news that people are leaving the Christian faith. Or that, increasingly, they were never a part of it. The staggering numbers of people that identify themselves as atheist, agnostic, or “spiritual but not religious” have us career Jesus people in a panic. Will there still be a community of faith in 20 […]
Irreverin 