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Hard Conversations about Mercy and Justice

Yesterday, I had a fascinating conversation with some folks who are trying hard to understand how their downtown congregation can effectively be “salt” and “light” for their community and region. They’re compassionate and generous people who genuinely want to make a...

Sustaining Words

When writer Rick Bragg was young and struggling to find his way in journalism, he won a prestigious fellowship to Harvard. While there, he felt out of place. He hadn’t finished college, and he was in classes with people who were pursuing graduate degrees. He was...

Shaping Alternative Communities

This semester, I’m teaching “Christian Ethics in Engagement with U.S. Culture.” My students and I are exploring together the ways in which various approaches to Christian Ethics conflict and converge with the values of U.S. culture(s).One of our conversation partners...

Limits are the Walls of Shelter

Last night, Anita and I went to All Souls Episcopal Cathedral for the Ash Wednesday service.  It was a gift to be back in that faith-community which has been such a significant haven and home for us since my work at First Baptist Church of Asheville ended in...

Snow Sabbath

The heavy snow which recently fell in our area brought surprising gifts: the requirement (and permission) to step-away for a few days from routine busyness, to have longer stretches of uninterrupted time to read and to think, and to rest without irrational guilt over...