Category: People

  • The final word is love

    The end of Dorothy Day’s autobiography: “But the final word is love. At times it has been, in the words of Father Zossima, a harsh and dreadful thing, and our very faith in love has been tried through fire.

  • We need to be MUCH better in the public square

    One of the joys of being an Anglican is finding the brilliant thinkers and writers currently engaging our culture and spiritual life. If you haven’t heard of Tish Harrison Warren, you just did… and you need to hear more from her. You can subscribe to her weekly newsletter in the New York Times for free.

  • The generosity of life I have received

    Recently we were able to travel to the Twin Cities to get some time with family and conduct some business along the way. We flew into Minneapolis, rented a car, and headed to our hotel. When we lived in the Cities for 20 years and drove out of town to visit family, there was a particular place along the highway…

  • Personal losses from COVID mount up

    A friend from college, and a minister, passed away from COVID the other night. He was a resident advisor when I came to college. He was our Dean of Men when I graduated. His family is a precious family and to go through this is pain beyond anything I could know.

  • “Evangelical” as a political label

    I am reminding myself of this fact: it is a discussion about white evangelical voters. Here is the comment from David French: The bottom line is that the percentage of white Americans identifying as Evangelical grew from 25 to 29 percent between 2016 and 2020, powered mainly by the fact that 16 percent of Trump supporters who didn’t identify as…

  • Why I am not an ideologue

    I am working my way through The Long Loneliness, an autobiography of Dorothy Day. As she was beginning her work in journalism, it was 1917 in New York City. A massive time of upheaval. She was still not convinced of Christianity, but her work in journalism kept her from attending any meetings of Socialists, though she declared herself a Socialist…

  • Causing trauma today

    Some tips from Resmaa Menakem on how we can cause trauma today in the lives of black friends if we are not careful:

  • Influence

    Over the years what I have always read about, heard about, and believed was Billy Graham had a way to proclaim Christ and be a friend of high powered people without having much of a political agenda. Then I came across a documentary on a Catholic priest named Theodore Hesburgh. It was unreal how he influenced major government decisions across…

  • A grievous loss

    When Terri and I were moving from Minnesota to Alabama, part of our trip included an audiobook called The Anglican Way. It was a time in our lives of major shifts. A major move. Moving away from ministry into something that was a complete unknown. And knowing I was moving away from the denomination I was raised in and had…

  • Sorrow…grief

    This picture… a prayer vigil… looks of hopelessness, looks of grief… wailing… mourning… Another shooting in a city I have loved… during the trial of another police shooting The cry of my heart… HOW LONG, O LORD?