It’s a challenge to live as faithful witnesses of Christ. So I was pleased to recently discover help in a surprising place: the story of Abraham. Abraham’s world was not so different from ours. He was called by God to sojourn in a place that was not his home, among people who believed differently,…
Those of us who have been Christians for a while sometimes forget that much of what we do might seem strange to the world around us. I was reminded of this as I read an article which observed that the church is one of the only places we continue to encounter corporate singing. It’s true—when…
In our career-driven society, we often think about a child’s hobbies and activities in terms of future goals: the scholarship, the career path, the networking. Of course, you want to best for your child, grandchild, nephew or niece, as well as the children in your community who are near and dear to your heart. But…
In 1902, columnist Finley Dunne was credited with saying that the job of the newspaper was to “comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.” Years later, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr would borrow that phrase to describe the role of the preacher. The more I think about it, the more that description resonates with me. Certainly,…