Concrete Suggestions for Promoting Peace and Justice

I got to spend Tuesday morning this week with 124 kids (plus 68 adults & teens) that have been creating a musical they’ll share at our 9:45 and 11:00 worship services on Sunday morning. We closed our time together with prayer, and I asked, “What should we pray about?” Two young boys raised their hands. I called on the first, and he said, “the shootings.” The second boy put down his hand and then raised it again and asked, “Which ones?” It turned out they had two different shootings in mind.

Freedom's Great! My Friends Like Jail Too

Lots of my friends will celebrate freedom this weekend. A few of them also get excited about going to jail.

A few years ago I received an excited e-mail from a friend telling me about an event she was going to on the weekend. The e-mail concluded with the line “I might get arrested!” More recently I was talking with another friend that was excited, because in the fall he’s going to a prison he’s never been to before, one where “they had a riot a while back, and someone died.”

Inside ISIS Territory: My Conversation with a Pakistani Church Leader

Stories and details of last Sunday’s shootings in Orlando have filled this weeks’ news. Every time an event reminds me of the reality of terrorists I wonder, what can we do? I’m skeptical of simple solutions, and I’m skeptical of solutions offered by people living far away from the daily reality of terrorism. That’s why I took it seriously when Humphrey, a church leader that lives in Pakistan and regularly travels into ISIS- and Taliban-controlled territory, sat across from me at lunch a few weeks ago and said, “What we really need is more love.”

Methodists Debating Homosexuality and Faith This Week

This week representatives elected from Methodist churches around the world began meeting for General Conference. This happens every 4 years and provides a forum for debating changes to our structure, processes, and stands on social issues. We expect a lot of debate around faith and homosexuality. I anticipate several likely outcomes.

Transforming To-Do List Stress Jesus Style

Next week I’m speaking at our church’s MOMSnext group on the topic of “fierce flourishing.” I feel unqualified. Each day I face a mountain of uncompleted items on my to-do list. It often grows and rarely shrinks. My reality isn’t what I think of when I think of flourishing. However, in preparing to speak I’ve remembered some words of Jesus and discovered a simple practice with the power to transform my stress over unfinished to-do items.

She Said, "You'd Be Cool If You Just..."

I had just signed up for my first ever seminary class. I took a seat on a bench next to the registration building and wondered how this new college experience would compare to being an undergraduate engineering student. Two young women walked by and stopped to talk to me. “Girls talking to me – that’s different than engineering school,” I thought. As the conversation wound down, one of them said, “You’d be cool if you just smoked.”

Preying from the Cross

Two hawks in my neighborhood have chosen, of all things, the cross at the top of a steeple as their base of operations for preying. No, not praying. Preying.

Whether neighborhood birds or terrorists in Belgium, predators have no qualms about using tools of faith to further violence. On this Friday before Easter, however, we remember that Jesus turned the tables. He used a notorious tool of violence, the cross, to further faith. Jesus prayed from the cross. He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” That action represented a pattern in Jesus’ life that can give us hope and direction in a world still filled with violence.

Holiest Ground in Israel was in My Hotel

In the book of Exodus Moses investigates a burning bush and hears the voice of God say, “the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). I went to Israel hoping I’d have a holy-ground moment. I did, but I didn’t expect that the most significant spiritual moment of my trip would take place on the holy ground of my hotel room.

When a Wall is About Tearing Down Walls

Christians often strive to tear down walls that separate people. Recently, though, I visited a church that had an elaborate wall at the front of its worship space, separating the congregation from a symbolic holier place where the priests hang out. Initially offended by this wall, I gained a new appreciation for it when I learned how it’s used every Sunday during worship services.

It's the End of the World. You Vomit. What's Next?

In northern Israel you can visit Armageddon, the site of the final battle of good against evil. After arriving there last month, one of our group threw up – probably a fitting response to any situation that feels like the end of the world. But what do you do next When things are falling apart, what guidance does our faith give us for how to respond?

I Found Hope Between Minefields

I recently visited the Jordan River with members of our church. The river separates Israel from the country of Jordan, and the road leading to the river has minefields on both sides. Standing in the water between the minefields I found a spot of hope.

Surprising Memorials to Temptation and Failure

When I went to the Holy Land I expected to find many churches and monuments celebrating significant events in Biblical history. However, I didn’t expect to find a church and other buildings celebrating temptation and failure.