Category Archives: Editorials

​As the public phase of the impeachment process begins, nothing is more certain than this: it will occur in a whirlwind of confusion, fueled to a great degree by political partisanship that will seek to frame the matter along party … Continue reading →

​My personality moves me in the direction of details, specifics, and particulars.  Sometimes a single word captures my attention for quite a while.  I have a built-in propensity to zoom in. This means that I have had to discipline myself … Continue reading →

​With the Supreme Court’s decision in 2013 to largely end protections afforded to minorities by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, there was an immediate resurgance of racism in our political system.  Even before the ruling states began to implement … Continue reading →

Sitting in the deep sadness that drapes our national soul when we experience another mass shooting (307 this year)**, we once again hear the cries and calls from a nation whose voices are hoarse from repetition, whose eyes are red … Continue reading →

​The most unbelievable allegation made by Donald Trump in the wake of the documented escalation of violence in our country since he took office is that his words and example have had nothing to do with it.  Pointing away from … Continue reading →

I have been developing the following article for months. It is still a work in progress, but I offer it today in relation to the current administration’s potentially defining human sexuality using the inaccurate view of birth manifestation gender–a possibility … Continue reading →

​The United Nations report on climate change came out a few days ago, drawing on scientific evidence from more than thirty countries to say (once again) that the problem is real, and if it is not addressed, we are in … Continue reading →

The “Editorial” category is one I use when posting an unexpected writing that is not connected with other themes. ______________________________ Thoughts on Kavanaugh’s approval… When I was in seminary, we joked that when writing a sermon, it is sometimes necessary … Continue reading →

How ironic that a text from the Maundy Thursday passages so clearly applies to us on this Maundy Thursday.  In John 13:30, as soon as Judas left the group gathered in the upper room to go and betray Jesus, the … Continue reading →

As the world turns civically and religiously, we face a fork-in-the-road choice: to be relational or rejective toward those with whom we disagree.  The choice sets a trajectory that gathers to itself many other things as it moves forward.  The … Continue reading →

Entering into 2016, I want to travel light.  I want to journey with a renewed purity of heart that complexification prevents. One of the things I am jettisoning is the word “evangelical.”  Those of you who know me understand how … Continue reading →

For months I have been seeing one allegation after another that Christians are being persecuted in the USA.  The “evidence” is drawn from things as diverse as marriage licenses and coffee cups.  Hardly a day goes by without some new … Continue reading →

The defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance reveals how easily issues of human freedom can become knotted up with confusion, caricaturization, and complexity.  The issues of civil and religious liberty are creating a cauldron of contention in our nation, … Continue reading →

On the heels of an event at our local church last evening, and having watched “After Charleston” on PBS tonight, I offer this meditation… Jeannie and I have just completed a nine-year travel experience which has taken us into all … Continue reading →

As I sit down to write these words, the Reverend Benjamin Hutchinson and his partner, Monty, are getting married today in the Cass County Courthouse in Western Michigan.  As they do this, Reverend Hutchinson has been forced to resign as … Continue reading →

This post continues ideas I began a week ago. The SCOTUS decision regarding same-sex marriage will not end disagreement.  But it does exist as a landmark decision that will now influence subsequent conversations. The conversations will revolve around whether covenant … Continue reading →

Various writers have rightly noted that the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage is an interpretation of the Constitution and its advocacy of equal treatment under the law.  They have rightly pointed out that the decision is not directly based on … Continue reading →

The SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage is a long-awaited decision for many, including gay and straight Christians who have spent decades advocating for this.  It is a day for thanksgiving. But one of the lessons of history is that the … Continue reading →

The tragic murders in Charleston re-surface the debate about gun control.  We are already hearing the predictable responses from people and groups positioned along the spectrum of opinion.  If the past holds true one more time, we will find ourselves … Continue reading →

On the heels of attending and following a number of Annual Conferences of the United Methodist Church, and reading reports from the recent Reformation Project Training Conference in Atlanta, I am more convinced than ever that all must mean all. … Continue reading →

It has been a year since I wrote ‘For the Sake of the Bride.’  When I wrote it, I was looking through a two-year window leading toward General Conference in May of 2016.  Now, I realize one year of that … Continue reading →

As I prepare to attend the sessions of my Annual Conference, I continue to find it intriguing that conservatives persist in alleging they are not for schism.  A well-known UM leader blogged last week that he does not believe the … Continue reading →

As the Annual Conferences of the United Methodist Church meet during these weeks, the challenges we face as a denomination become more apparent.  And the fact that we are not agreed as to how we should deal with them is … Continue reading →

In various attempts to end partisanship and polarization in the society and church, the phrase “finding a third way” is often used and proposed.  As a United Methodist Christian, I have seen the phrase used a lot for upwards of … Continue reading →

Adam Hamilton has issued a new call for “a way forward” advocating a local-option plan that the General Conference would design, approve, implement, oversee, and (doubtless) amend over time. As with his original proposal (issued about a year ago), social … Continue reading →

The last persecution of Christians by the Roman empire was 303 a.d.  A decade later, Christianity was the official religion of the empire.  This meteroric rise from the bottom to the top changed the way Christians thought about their faith … Continue reading →

The passing of Indiana’s religious freedom act yesterday–along with similar laws already on the books–is eerily familiar to the civil-rights’ era which scarred our nation and still leaves an open wound to this day.  To say that it is not … Continue reading →

It took roughly a century for the now-called Copernican Revolution to establish the new paradigm for the solar system–a paradigm that removed the earth from the center of the universe and replaced it with the sun.  Between the initial proposal … Continue reading →

The oft-heard allegation by Conservatives, that Progressives are the ones who have capitulated to culture, can never be more than a half truth.  And when left unchallenged, it is a lie allowed to masquerade as the whole truth.  But the … Continue reading →

To my surprise, I have become the basis for a character named “Pietist” in William (Billy) Abraham’s new book, ‘Dialogues Amongst the People Called United Methodists.’  Drawing upon my book, ‘For the Sake of the Bride,’ plus some of Billy … Continue reading →

I have just received a copy of a book, written by my friend Fred Schmidt.  It is so powerful that I want all my readers to know about it, so I am posting this note on all my social media.  … Continue reading →

Billy Graham was one of my main influencers in the early days of my Christian faith (and since), and that meant that the music ministry of George Beverly Shea was also. Learning of his death last evening, I felt (as … Continue reading →

Today will be a “quieter” day than I figured it would be.  Jeannie found the notice of Brennan’s death (yesterday), and as soon as she told me, I felt an emptiness in my heart—the way I feel when someone has … Continue reading →

Yesterday (Wednesday), one of God’s modern-day saints went to heaven.  Gordon Cosby (1918-2013) along with his wife, Mary founded The Church of the Savior in Washington D.C. in the 1940’s. For many in my generation, the Cosbys were inspirations and … Continue reading →

Pope Francis I has not been in office a day before a deformative dynamic is already in the mix–and one particularly prevalent in North American Christianity.  It is our tendency to assume the “United States view” is the norm for … Continue reading →

Once in a while all the confusion and complexity of the world is rolled back, and we can see into the human heart.  I believe the choice of a new Pope is one of those times. If only for a … Continue reading →

News media last week reported on Pope Benedict’s decision to live out the remaining years of his life as a monk.  Given his status as a major-league theologian in the Roman Catholic Church (even before he was chosen to be … Continue reading →

As you may know, Pope John Paul II spoke of the Western and Eastern churches as the two lungs of the Body of Christ, reminding us that the Body needs both lungs to be healthy. Last week, while processing Pope … Continue reading →

We are living through a time of great shame and challenge for the church. Pride and presumption are like termites in the temple, eating away at the pillars and posts of institutional Christianity. Pride has created sensationalism where self-declared “superstars” … Continue reading →

I am amazed at how quickly Greg Smith’s public resignation from Goldman Sachs has gone viral.  I do not know the man, at all, so I am in no position to write this post on the basis of any personal … Continue reading →

The decision by leaders in the Anglican Mission in the Americas to separate from the Church in Rwanda has “hit the beach” of Christianity with full force this week.  I am not capable of commenting on all the facets of … Continue reading →

Believe it or not, I am not writing this post as a political blog, but squarely one within the framework of spiritual formation. A recent statement by a leader in the Tea Party movement sent chills through me.  He wrote, … Continue reading →

Within the last 24 hours, I have received two “messages” that I believe go a long way in showing where we are relative to the place of Christianity, and religion in general, in The United States. The first message came … Continue reading →

I intentionally shy away from making political comments on this blog.  I recognize the diversity of opinions which swirl around almost every issue, and I don’t want this blog to be viewed as politically slanted, and certainly not politically oriented. … Continue reading →

As you know, I have felt a strong check in my spirit when it comes to “editorializing” on this blog site.  There are plenty of sites that do that—some well, some not so well.  And I do not even begin … Continue reading →

In his book, The Faith, Charles Colson says that the great failure in evangelical Christianity is that its adherents have not been catechized.  He adds a similar view by J.I. Packer to his own assertion. I agree.  We have become … Continue reading →

Like many others this year, I was looking forward to seeing who the 2011 American Idol would be.  It had boiled down to Lauren and Scotty, and I was interested (more this year than in some previous ones) to see … Continue reading →

Harold Camping has done what I figured he would do; he has “re-calculated” the end of the world. I wish I could get this post to everyone in the world, not because I’m writing it, but because now is a … Continue reading →

“Judgment Day” has not come as many have believed it would. This is not a time for any “I told you so” response; it is a time for great sensitivity, compassion, and love. Some people have divested themselves of money … Continue reading →

I will bring my current remarks about Islam and Christianity to a close with this post. First, my occasional remarks about world religions are not made with any notion that Christianity (as it has been manifested in history) is automatically … Continue reading →