To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Students in a class taught by Dr. Dallas Willard remember the day that one of their number was moved to a display of sheer arrogance. Until his death in 2013, Willard – a professor of philosophy at USC and the author of a number of books on Christian spiritual formation –… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Sociology professor and author Tony Campolo once attended the wrong funeral. His mother had called him and said, “Mrs. Kirkpatrick died. You need to pay your respects.” As Tony puts it, “My mother, like all Italians, was big on funerals.” So he hurried to the mortuary, where the service would begin at 2:00… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Sex is big business. It’s hard to comprehend, but the combined receipts of every live stage production in America – including symphonies, musicals, plays, and pop concerts – is exceeded every year by the revenue generated by strip clubs alone. According to a cover story in Time, the annual profits of… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A few years ago, when I was serving as a workplace pastor for a healthcare company, one of our Black associates, seemingly out of the blue, asked me a question. “Are you planning to write a morning reflection about Juneteenth?” “I’d be glad to do that,” I answered enthusiastically. Then… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In the movie A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe plays Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash. The film recounts the true story of Nash’s descent into schizophrenia, followed by his agonizing attempts to regain something of a “normal” life as a Princeton University professor in the middle of the twentieth century. But the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Someone asked me a while back about my taste in music. “ABC,” I answered. Anything But Country. I love classical symphonies, electronic big beat, bluegrass, rock and roll, jazz fusion – you name it. I’ve just never been able to resonate with mournful tunes about breakups, bankruptcies, “She got the gold… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The world’s most powerful brands, as represented by their familiar logos, are famously effective at influencing our thoughts. When I see the stylized words “Coca-Cola” – white on a sea of red or red on a sea of white – I imagine popping the top on a chilled soda can. When… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here What exactly does Jesus ask of his followers? Most of us quietly hope it won’t be too costly. Author Anne Lamott wonders aloud, “Why couldn’t Jesus command us to obsess about everything, to try to control and manipulate people…to stomp away to brood when people annoy us, and then eat a… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Like the contractors and foremen who are hoping to hire workers, Jesus Morales occasionally drops by one of the southern California parking lots or street corners where unemployed laborers gather early every morning, hoping to be chosen for a day’s work. But the 27-year-old doesn’t take any workers to a construction… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here If you’re a high school youth group leader in Indiana, there’s one event every year that is guaranteed to be a hit. Take a winter ski trip to Michigan! It’s not that Michigan has a mountain range or world-class slopes. But it does sit far enough north to receive generous quantities… Read more »