(OPINION) When winter streets freeze and night skies are black and snow swerves down against the glow of porch lights, my thoughts inevitably turn to one of the more powerful works of fiction I know, James Joyce’s story “The Dead,” which appeared in his 1914 collection “Dubliners.”
Read More(OPINION) Children, long ago in a land far away, I aspired to be a writer of serious fiction rather than of ephemeral newspaper columns.
Read More(OPINION) During the holidays I happened across several newspaper essays that said better than I can the very things I’ve been trying to write and preach about forever. I want to kick off 2026 by sharing, not my New Year’s resolutions, because I don’t have any, but instead a couple of these observations by better writers.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In a few days we’ll arrive again at Christmas. Christmases come around faster now than they used to. When I was young it seemed as if the next one would never get here, and now they zoom past at such warp speed I have to set an alarm to even notice them.
Read MoreWe come into the world helpless, and we leave it helpless. If we’re teachable, this gradual, inevitable decline imbues us with humility before we’re gone, which in turn leads us toward grace.
Read More(OPINION) Among humanity, the opportunities for offense are endless. But if you don’t want to get trapped in this habit of spreading bile, you don’t have to. Pastor Paul Prather gives practical tips to have more peaceful, loving relationships.
Read More(OPINION) Earlier, I wrote a column about an adventure-filled trip I took to the ER. At the time I wrote that piece, I thought we’d solved the questions of what was ailing me. Well, not so fast.
Read More(OPINION) My grandkids are nearly grown, I’m afraid. Of the five, three are in high school now and one’s in middle school. Only the youngest is still a little guy.
Read More(OPINION) “If you are there and you’re listening, I’d appreciate some help,” the writer prayed. The response was stone silence.
Read More(ANALYSIS) One thing I consider part of my job as a columnist is pointing you to opinions that are better-expressed and more revelatory that what I’d normally produce on my own. That’s the case here.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Give up our rights? Become servants instead? Balderdash! If it matters, I don’t find what Paul says in Ephesians any easier to put into practice than anyone else does. I fail miserably. But I think he was right.
Read More(OPINION) A professor explained that “art” was short for “artifice.” Art was an interpretation, a cleverly designed facsimile crafted to produce a particular insight or reaction. It evoked the essence of a real thing, but it was in fact not the thing. You had to keep your audience in mind.
Read More(OPINION) I admit I never actually saw Jesus in Gary’s coffee shop. But Gary saw him — or felt his presence or heard his quiet voice — pretty much constantly. And I saw an image of Jesus refracted through Gary.
Read More(OPINION) There’s been much academic and journalistic attention paid in recent years to the documentable benefits of treating a host of mental disorders with psychedelics. “This Is Your Priest on Drugs” looks at a published study in which researchers administered psilocybin to clergy from various religious traditions.
Read More(OPINION) It’s all untelling, this God thing. The whole weekend I had an inexpressible sense of God’s realness, God’s omnipresence, God’s utter majesty. God is a mystery. If you think you’ve got the answers … well, no, you don’t.
Read More(OPINION) Reading all about the decline of religion, I always find myself pondering the mystery of faith itself. Where does faith come from? Why do some people have it and others don’t? Why do some abandon it and others hold fast despite ill winds?
Read More(OPINION) Colloquially, “mamzer” apparently can also refer to anybody regarded as strange or an outsider. That would be me. In that sense I’m definitely a mamzer. And maybe that’s you, too, if you’re of a certain bent. We’re those odd souls who see things differently than the crowd does, maybe because we’re always a healthy distance from it.
Read More(OPINION) The criticism of my preaching I’ve heard most across the decades is this: I don’t preach enough against wickedness. I’m too easy on reprobates. I don’t threaten rebels with hellfire. I’m soft on sin.
(OPINION) I was struck by how similar an Orthodox monk and Baptist preacher seemed, although they live on opposite sides of the planet, speak different languages and belong to vastly different traditions. They’re both holy men who’ve stayed faithful to their calling even as the world went off and left them, or maybe never much recognized them to begin with.
Read More(OPINION) My plan for a long time was to fully retire by age 65 from both writing and preaching. But as is often the case, the world didn’t conform to my plans. Lately, considering my options anew, I realized I’m not ready to completely pull the plug on either of my two vocations.
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