First, I have to admit that the entire world of modern telecommunications still amazes me. I actually know why we say, “Hang up the phone!” because I grew up when a phone was attached by a cord to the wall, and to end a call, you had to “hang it” back up where it always stayed....
If you ever played hide-and-seek, did you ever really love being the one who was doing the seeking? I hated it. First, it meant that I had been caught first in the prior round when I had been hiding (so it felt like I had failed). Second, I always had a sinking feeling of dread, wondering inwardly, “What if I can’t find anyone?”...
Think about how you are the same, no matter what your age, as the day you were born. Just as an acorn grows from being a large nut to a sprig to a 200-year-old mammoth of a tree, you have gone from being an embryo to a fetus to a newborn baby to a toddler to whatever you are today....
The right tool fits the job. You wouldn’t try to drive in a nail with a tape measure. Even if you tried to do that, failed, and then complained, “This tape measure is no good!”...
If you’re reading this, my guess is that you are not a kid. So, I also suspect you understand basic anatomy and sexuality. ...
We asked, and you answered — thank you! Last month, our leaders asked me to communicate to you that we were behind on giving for 2023, and your response has been encouraging....
For many of you, you may not even know what a sabbatical is. Traditionally, it derived from the world of university professors who were granted a period of paid leave for study or travel. ...
Over the last few years, we’ve weathered COVID-19, profound social and political tensions, and behind it all, there has been a steady shift in what sexuality even is — let alone what is now considered sexually appropriate....
If you dig at the very essence of what’s regarded as heroic, you will surely see elements of courage, risk, generosity and a willingness to readily sacrifice even one’s own life in the protection or rescue of others. ...
It works like this: whatever you’re thinking about or arguing about, someone reduces the options to only two. “Either it’s _______ OR it’s ________.” And admittedly, there are many instances where the discussion really can be reduced to only one of two options — like pregnancy, citizenship, or having a pulse. Either you are or are not; you do or do not....
Recently, Tish Warren wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times, Want to Get Into the Christmas Spirit? Face the Darkness.She wanted to address how, as Christians, we celebrate Jesus' birth as the light that has come into darkness, andas John's Gospel says, 'the darkness could not overcome it.'She wrote: "Advent bids us first to pause and to look, with complete honesty, at th...
Keep ReadingWhat is the most un-talkable subject you can think of? It’s not sex, because people talk (at least with me) about their sex lives and thoughts all the time. And conversations ...
Keep ReadingAfter the Louisiana Purchase had been secured with France, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Lewis & Clark to explore and map the newly acquired territory....
Keep ReadingRecently a friend commented to me, “It’s hard that you get fired if you don’t talk about Jesus at your job while most people at worship could get fired if they talk about Jesus at theirs.”...
Keep ReadingI read last week that our United States Congress is seen as one of our most dysfunctional institutions, so it probably doesn’t help that our annual General Assembly (G.A.) functions like the Congress of our denomination. ...
Keep ReadingWhy do we rest? From the beginning, we are given a pattern of the goodness of work, balanced with the goodness of rest. ...
Keep ReadingIn 2001, Julie and I bought our house. A home we could afford that was big enough for our 4 kids also meant that it needed to be fixed up. ...
Keep ReadingWho do you know that is suffering, or what have you endured?...
Keep ReadingI often say that, as a minority, I must know two stories of history....
Keep Reading“Why is graduation called commencement?” I remember learning that graduation sounds like a finish line, while commencement is a starting line. ...
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