To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Schools are constantly changing. Every few years kids are drawn to new fashions, new pop stars, and new definitions of what is cool. Old Math gives way to New Math which ultimately reverts to Old Math. Educators adjust what rightfully belongs to the core curriculum, and school board members adjust to… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here For multitudes of individuals and organizations, the holidays have become the season of compassion. But how do we help without hurting? That question has consumed Robert Lupton, author of the bestseller Toxic Charity, for more than 50 years. In his work as a community redeveloper in Atlanta, Lupton began to notice… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here My father, who was a member of the Greatest Generation, found it hard to fathom that all three of his sons would choose to drive Japanese-made cars. Right now, in fact, my Mazda is parked in our garage, while Mary Sue’s Toyota truck is sitting in our driveway. My parents and… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When someone else is hurting, it’s tempting to think our call is to do something amazing or to say something unusually wise. But most of the time, the need of the hour is simply to show up. In his recent bestseller How to Know a Person, cultural commentator David Brooks recounts… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Every day during this season of Lent we’re looking at the miracles of Jesus – his spectacular displays of supernatural power that are reported in the Gospels. If you’re a parent, and your child is seriously ill, nothing else matters. You would move heaven and earth to find the right… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Throughout the month of August, we’re looking at Ecclesiastes, that strange and seemingly “modern” Old Testament book that depicts what happens when humanity searches for ultimate meaning apart from God. As 2012 drew to a close, the Associated Press had already chosen its Story of the Year: the re-election of Barack Obama. Then on… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The pre-dawn earthquake that struck along the border of Turkey and Syria yesterday was one of the most powerful shakings those countries have ever experienced. There are fewer than 20 quakes a year anywhere on the planet that exceed a magnitude of 7.0. This one measured 7.8, meaning it was sufficiently fierce to… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. In AD 165, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a virus brought the Roman Empire to its knees. A deadly epidemic swept across the Mediterranean world. Historians guess that it was smallpox, making its first incursion into a population that had no immunity. Whole cities and provinces were abandoned and fell into ruin. … Read more »
Year ago I heard a presentation called “What Not to Say at a Funeral.” In the presence of someone else’s grief and pain, so often we feel compelled to say something – anything – that will help make sense of the mystery of this loss. We want to make the moment easier. But the following statements are almost guaranteed to… Read more »
Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth. In the cartoon world of The Simpsons, Bart Simpson lives next door to the church-going, Bible-toting Flanders family. One day the two Flanders boys hop out of their car following a… Read more »
