Should Men Remain Silent on Abortion?
November 5, 2024 I’ll just cut to the chase. In the past several weeks, I’ve been told about a half dozen times by both men and women that I shouldn’t contribute to any conversation on abortion because of my gender. Never mind the fact that my own government in the state of Missouri is asking […]
The Bible & My Vote?
A man in our congregation recently asked, “Would you preach a sermon about Christians and voting?” My inner voice said, “No!” Is there a topic more guaranteed to send people into their respective corners than politics? One thing is sure about this election: when the votes are all counted, 50% of the country will celebrate, […]
An Editor’s Take on Megan Basham’s ‘Shepherds for Sale’
September 2, 2024 Everybody loves an editor. (Ha, that’s the closest you’ll get to an editor joke.) The truth is, nobody likes being told all the ways they could have said what they said better. But it’s also true that every writer needs a good editor, which is why I never like to publish or […]
Pray for the Gift of Seeing the Smallest Humans
July 12, 2024 “Zuzu’s petals! Zuzu—there they are! Burt! What do you know about that?!”—George Bailey, It’s a Wonderful Life A few years back, I let Nacho Libre get bumped to second place as It’s a Wonderful Life became my favorite movie. In this movie, George Bailey expends himself bettering his small community and raising […]
What We Learn from Two Hebrew Midwives
When I think of people who show and live out their allegiance to God in the Bible, I immediately think of Shiphrah and Puah. They are better known as the Hebrew Midwives who saved Israelite baby boys at a time when opposing rulers called them to be killed. These midwives could have done the easy […]
The Scariest Nice Person in Your Church
What comes to mind when you think of “one-hand clapping”? Perhaps you think of the Zen “koan” in which the Zen master asks the student, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” For months, the student searches for it in vain until meditating and arriving at the “soundless sound” that transcends all sound.[1] “One […]
What We Discover About Ourselves in a Post-Roe World
March 5, 2024 We are living in a post-Roe world. Does it feel like you thought it would? Me neither. Some context: In 1973, the Supreme Court ruling called Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion throughout the U.S., appealing to women’s constitutional right to privacy. States were prohibited from restricting abortion in the first trimester, while […]
Why Not Abortion? An Answer to My Teenage Daughter
Yesterday, I was on the road coming back from two weeks at a summer conference for high school students when I got a call from my daughter. She was full of questions and anxiety. Like the rest of us, she had just heard about the SCOTUS ruling overturning Roe. She had already seen students expressing […]
