Date: June 1, 2021
In God We (Don’t) Trust
This is the first of 4 sermon starters for July 4th weekend. Preachers are free to use them. In each sermon, I endeavor to interpret this moment in the nation’s […]
Category: Blog Posts
Date: May 25, 2021
As Sick as Our Secrets
There is a true truism among family therapists and recovery groups: a family is as sick as its secrets. In this week during which the eyes of national reporters, and […]
Date: May 18, 2021
Creating Hell One Punishment at a Time
We live in a punishing society. We are a society that supports and tolerates a great deal of inflicting pain for moral reasons. Lots of us feel justified in pronouncing […]
Date: May 12, 2021
Will Finding Our Roots Change Us?
“Finding Your Roots” is a PBS series hosted by Harvard historian Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. In each episode, Gates interviews celebrities while he presents to them always-revealing information about […]
Date: April 20, 2021
Disappointing Civil Religion
In researching a book on campus ministry at the beginning of my academic career, the lead author (the Rev. Dr. Sam Portaro) thought about calling the book The Dis-appointment of […]
Date: April 13, 2021
Mind the Virtue Gap
These attributes distinguish a democracy from a mob—at least according to the American defenders of democracy around the time of the nation’s founding: Respect demonstrated by the majority for the […]
Date: April 6, 2021
When We Take Off the Masks
On Easter Sunday morning, shortly before sunrise, I attended an in-person worship service for the first time since the March 2020 shutdown. The service was outside. Everyone masked. It was […]
Date: March 30, 2021
Which Myth Comes After a City on a Hill
In religious studies, “myth” does not mean “not true.” A myth is not history, as today’s historians try to write history. Names, dates, an observable sequence of events. Rather, to […]
Date: March 23, 2021
Consider Who Lives Downstream
Recently, two weeks after my second vaccination dose, I spent time with relatives in the Chicago area I’d not seen since before my dad died a year ago. Driving around […]
Date: March 16, 2021
The Morality of a State Budget
A lesson I learned in a church administration class 40 years ago is: a church budget is a moral document. Decisions regarding why and how to ask for money, and […]