(OPINION) What I’ve retained about Sept. 15, 1973, is more a feeling than details of a game. It’s an impression. It’s an aura of happiness and relief. In Commonwealth Stadium, amid all the opening day hubbub, Dad and I seemed almost magically removed from our outside lives. In a desert of private unhappiness, we’d stumbled on an oasis: a place where a band played, people laughed and the hot dogs were tasty. Our tension eased.
Read More(OPINION) The world has lost a witness to the counter-narrative of love and service that are possible between people of different races with the death of my friend David Jowitt. Professor of English at the University of Jos in Plateau State in Nigeria, he was the last British person in the university system there.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in previews the Catholic Church’s upcoming synod on synodality in Rome. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) Kids do say the darndest things, and with decades of pulpit experience, the Rev. Joe McKeever has learned that these revelatory remarks often happen just after church. In one case, a parent shared a question from a perplexed child who struggled with a complex McKeever sermon. Thus, the 7-year-old asked: “Why does Pastor Joe think we need this information?”
Read More(OPINION) My father, who recently died at age 92, often said, “The older we get, the better we were.” This expression is a succinct, if folksy, way of describing the common practice of historical revisionism. But Christians tend to engage in revisionism, too. If progressives denigrate the past, many Christians and conservatives sentimentalize the past.
Read More(OPINION) Distress and hopelessness are typically met not with plans of action or offers of assistance, but with a pat on the head and 15 different versions of ‘You can do it” or “You’ll survive.” But not everyone can do it, and people die. There are horrors beyond our control. No amount of cute and sweet clichés will save the heartbroken and the hopeless. Such phrases may, however, make them feel isolated and even more vulnerable.
Read More(OPINION) As one who’s prone to be anxious about — well, about nearly everything — I’ve spent a good deal of my life looking for ways to de-stress. So allow me to offer a few reminders about dealing with presidential indictments, global warming, nightmarish customer service, artificial intelligence, road rage, grouchy spouses and troublesome offspring — without imploding.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the latest news from the Southern Baptist Convention. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) There was nothing unusual in the early 1970s about a student hearing one of his professors preach during chapel. But one sermon — “How Would You Like to Die?” — impressed the seminarian who would later become United Methodist Bishop Timothy Whitaker of Florida. Theologian Claude H. Thompson had terminal cancer and, a few months later, his funeral was held in the same chapel at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta.
Read More(OPINION) Here’s why we fast on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar — but we don’t always pray, repent or ask for forgiveness.
Read More(OPINION) On Aug. 28, I conducted a poll on X (formerly known as Twitter), asking, “As a voter, what is the single most important factor or quality you’re looking for in a presidential candidate?” The four choices were integrity/character, good policies, backbone or unifier.
Read More(OPINION) A friend asked what I thought about the recent “dust up,” as she called it, at Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County, Kentucky, deep in the Appalachian mountains. There, The Waymakers Collective turned a chapel into a “healing space,” decorating it “with pillows, mats, a table of aromatic oils and an ‘om’ symbol, which symbolizes the universe in the Hindu religion.”
Read More(OPINION) Consider a sobering new study — “The Great Dechurching. Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back” — by researchers Jim Davis, Michel Graham and Ryan Burge. Their numbers indicate that evangelicalism has backslid to where it was 50 years ago.
Read More(OPINION) Starting on Friday evening — and again the evening of Sept. 24 — Jews around the world will be filing into synagogues to mark their “Days of Awe” — the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. For many who observe these holidays in the United States, the Days of Awe will be the only time that they visit a synagogue this year. Only 1 in 5 American Jews attend services once a month or more.
Read More(OPINION) In a divided America, music is just another means of dividing based on political affiliation and race. While country music has the image of being “All-American,” hip-hop often sheds light on the social injustices to minority people. When listening to music, it can seem as if there is no unity among people from different backgrounds. However, Gangstagrass is fighting back against that narrative by bringing people from two different genres together.
Read More(OPINION) The famed writer Ernest Hemingway was not necessarily a religious man — but he was a deep thinker and realized that human beings crave long-term satisfaction. In his famous book “The Sun Also Rises,” he understood that the pursuit of meaning in life is frustrating and intricate.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights new survey findings concerning post-pandemic worship attendance and giving. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(TRAVEL) In addition to its charming architecture, close proximity to nature and signature miniature canals, the city is known for the well-respected University of Freiburg. During my exchange program, I spent quite a bit of time in the university’s energy-efficient, futuristic-looking library.
Read More(OPINION) In terms of Islamic doctrine, alcohol is “haram,” or forbidden, and the Quran is blunt: “O ye who believe! Strong drink and games of chance and idols and divining arrows are only an infamy of Satan’s handiwork.” But it isn’t hard to find Muslims who have never boarded that bandwagon.
Read More(OPINION) How should we pray for the 2024 elections? Should we pray for a particular candidate (or, in the case of the nonpresidential elections, candidates) to win? Should we pray for specific issues and ask God to raise up those who will do the best job on those particular issues? Or should we simply pray, “Your will be done, Lord”?
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