(OPINION) There are many right ways to observe Holy Week and to walk with Jesus. I invite you to be intentional and make a plan for how you will observe the rest of Holy Week, each and every day.
Read MoreReligion Unpluggedâs readers see Clemente Lisiâs stories all the time. Here are seven facts to help the audience get to know him better.
Read More(OPINION) At a professorâs nudge, I first attended a conference in the early 2000s. I donât remember what city it was in, or even the exact year. I do remember how awkward it felt. I stood shyly by myself â away from the religion reporters I admired so much â when I should have been networking.
Read More(OPINION) Every year at Passover, when Jews around the world recite the Four Questions, we begin by asking, âma nishtana halaila hazeh me kol halaylotâ â âwhat makes this night different from all others?â As we approach this yearâs seders, I think that itâs also appropriate that we ask what makes this year different from all others.
Read More(OPINION) No one cares about the âmistakesâ we make because 99.995% of people donât notice, donât care or care enough about us not to care about such minor flaws. The Japanese have a philosophy known as wabi-sabi, which emphasizes the beauty of imperfection. Among other things, this is expressed through the art of kintsugi.
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 didnât conform to my plans. Lately, considering my options anew, I realized Iâm not ready to completely pull the plug on either of my two vocations.
Read MoreReligion News Association members gathered this week just outside the nationâs capital for their annual meeting. They discussed topics ranging from AI to reporting on religion in small markets.
Read More(OPINION) Where does sacrificing end and enabling the irresponsible begin? Isnât it possible that by endlessly serving weâll just burn ourselves out? These are legitimate questions. But living that Jesus kind of life is hard. Itâs risky. It can be deeply frustrating. It requires more faith than I possess.
Read MoreAs I take stock this year, I feel a foreboding of apocalypse. Maybe my own apocalypse, or maybe this countryâs, or maybe the worldâs. Things are falling apart. The center cannot hold. You can choose to think of all this bad news as great news, in a counterintuitive way.
Read More(OPINION) The international conversation about Gaza has long circled the same grim question: What would it take for the population to rise up against Hamas? We just might have the beginnings of a response: The resumption of war, after Israel broke a two-month ceasefire following 15 months of devastating conflict. The prospect of more death with no end date, all because Hamas refuses to free more hostages until Israel agrees to leave it in power as part of a more permanent truce, appears to be too much to bear.
Read More(OPINION) All humanity is royally screwed up. As a result, your family is screwed up. Likely, you are screwed up, too, and your family may have contributed to that screwed-upness. But your ancestry doesnât have to define your destiny. With Godâs help, you can break the cycle of dysfunction, no matter how far back it goes.
Read More(OPINION) Call it Godâs work, but a world without art is a world without humans. Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde knew it, âWhat art seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.â I took a course on artificial intelligence to keep abreast of the world and was unsurprised to learn that a machine is not âintelligent.â
Read MoreWhen covering a tragedy, faith almost always emerges as a part of the story. That was the case again this past weekend when a monster storm system struck the Deep South and the Plains.
Read More(OPINION) âPoor wordy little Protestantsâ â as someone once said â have severed this connection between the church and its visual soul food. Bereft of beauty, Protestant churches have left us to the narcotizing effect of TV and social media, and a daily diet of pap, propaganda and rage. Could new generations and populations be inspired again to aspire to the heights to which those early artists aspired? If so, we'll surely need to get out more.
Read More(OPINION) As we prepare this Lenten season, let us walk through whatever wilderness we travel, knowing that Jesus walks with us, sure that he knows the wilderness far better than we, and knowing that, stays by our side.
Read More(OPINION) My counselor and I never did agree about whether I was mad at God, but our ongoing discussions forced me to ponder anger as a principle â anger toward the Lord, anger toward difficult circumstances and anger toward my fellow pilgrims. Hereâs what I think today.
Read MoreThis week marks the five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown. Mostly, life has returned to normal. But in some ways we still seem to be struggling, our columnist notes.
Read More(OPINION) In recent weeks, the plight of a group of Iranian asylum-seekers claiming to be converts to Christianity has been followed by The New York Times, helping to shine a light on a story not commonly reported by the mainstream media. The story, that is, of Iranian Christians who for years have found it harder and harder to find anyone willing to accept them.
Read More(OPINION) Mainly, the people whoâve become devoted to their faith did so along a winding path. Some had been to jail. Some were atheists. Some grew up in church, rejected it in their youth, veered out into the wider world for years and then reluctantly found their way back. Some hated organized religion.
Read MoreIn a California meeting, Compelling Preaching Initiative participants enjoyed how-to sessions on the content, crafting and delivery of sermons as well as one-on-one coaching and fellowship with other men â and women â of God.
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