He asked if we might like to use their corporate tickets to an upcoming Chicago White Sox game.

When our family convenes at table for dinner, we often invite our kids to do the praying. Our daughter’s invocation became a family favorite: “Jesus...Food...Thank you...Amen.”

We are beloved and God’s love has been evident through generations...

There’s an old joke that says one of the weirdest things about Jesus was that he was a man who managed to maintain 12 friendships as an adult.  I’d add in the sibling trio of Martha, Mary, and Lazurus, plus Mary Magdalene, and all of a sudden, you’re up to an astonishing 16. (And of

Sisyphus, I forgot to say that, though the sun always dies before I’ve finished, and, when sweat and soil sting my brow, I’ve wished these weeds would be considerate and slow their growth to match my digging speed (for no day ends with a cleared field, though I twist and pull at the roots till

So, here you are, too foreign for home, too foreign for here. Never enough for both.   — Ijeoma Umebinyuo  Leaving home  Home is everywhere and nowhere. The last few years have been years of thinning. Thinning things when we sold our home to live in an apartment, so we could spend more time wit

Bavinck’s observation is striking because he highlights something Western Christians sometimes struggle to articulate: racial injustice cannot simply be reduced to class injustice or individual prejudice. Class barriers can indeed be formidable and poverty can constrain a person’s possibilities from

I look for poems with clear language and vivid imagery. I enjoy poems that indicate their writer paid close attention to their words for both meaning and sound.

We’re missing out on a profound pastoral gift for those who find themselves in a wilderness of grief, in-betweenness or a living hell. 

I closed the classroom door. I said, “This is a safe space. A no-judgement zone.” And I asked my students their thoughts and feelings about AI. They had a lot to say. As I’m sure you know, the relatively sudden surge of readily available AI tools has upended a lot of things, perhaps most especially

What Kuyper did advocate, in excelsis, can be better labeled critical Christian activism or cultural engagement.

She was genuine in her outlandishness. Her appearance wasn't a way to cover up or hide — it was a way to be herself.

While we are in this blurriest of parenthood moments, I’m writing down what I want to remember.

Part of me believes we're all doing the best we can. But there's another part of me that feels deeply unsatisfied with this sentiment.

We should be screaming from the rooftops. Without guardrails, the leaders of AI companies say there is a 10% chance AI will destroy humanity by the end of the decade.

What have we run from in fear? We run from lies, lies that others have told us and lies that we tell ourselves. In our desperation to flee from the darkness of lies, we miss out on so much truth.  Truth that, although we are broken, we are still loved, always loved. There’s not a

In the absence of government and institutions—no one was coming to their rescue—neighbors banded together and made something out of what they had.

There is something deeply human about this process. Cancer is not an abstract scientific problem when the tumor belongs to one person.

The day after the flood, Jared, our mitigation specialist, arrived. He pulled up in a truck with the word “RESTORATION” clearly spelled out on the door.

I’d just sit there tense, angry, a little afraid, like a stone,” she later confided. I couldn’t participate.

I asked the elders to take turns leading our time together in devotions. Some jumped at the chance while others did so under duress. And then there was Bob.

I’m going to stop apologizing for my body.

When a child is lost under violent, strange, disputed, or unexplained circumstances, the family does not receive the luxury of uncomplicated grief. They grieve while asking questions. They bury their child while attempting to reconstruct their final hours. They listen to rumors while waiting for off

I’m suggesting that, “whatever this middle-assembly-thing is, we’re like ‘Swiss cantons’ unified and living together.”

Would I have been impatient, fearing that if things took too long people would lose interest, or the experience would lose its meaning? I’ve certainly felt the compulsion before, when crafting and leading worship services, for things to be “just so,” a desire that expects people to be able to partic

Calvin went so far as to characterize the work done by civic officials as a "sacred and noble calling."

Can AI Ever Be Human: Consciousness ExploredPaul O'Hara and Steven UmbrelloThe Catholic University of America PressMay 1, 2026Paper232 pages One of my favorite classes to teach is Philosophy and Science Fiction. As expected, much of what we discuss involves the philosophical implications of various

Am I being judge-y here? Do I risk violating that cherished maxim from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount? “Judge not lest ye be judged.”

Rest in a low-touch world will require intention. Boundaries matter, but boundaries are not the whole story. A phone-free table is good, but the goal is not the absence of phones. The goal is the presence of persons. A tech-free evening is good, but the deeper question is whether we are becoming peo

It is the “least of these among us” —the poor, the marginalized, communities of color, our children and grandchildren, and many of our fellow creatures — who will suffer the gravest effects of climate chaos.

Every Sunday, an elder writes and leads a prayer of intercession for the congregation, and a deacon writes and leads a prayer for our context and world.

“...grace makes possible a life that is not otherwise possible” which...reminds us of our nature and calls for a social ethic powerful enough to reimagine entire systems but granular enough to responsively attend to the needs of each individual.

I introduce the Rev. Carolyne Adhola, a priest in the Anglican Church of Kenya. Her story is both shocking and thrilling: shocking because of what she had to endure; thrilling because of how she overcame.

That declaration of goodness, the conferral of favor from a voice of ultimate importance -- it’s the great ache of human life.

I stumbled upon the remarkable story of how Shanghai proved to be a place of refuge for Jews fleeing the Nazi terror in central Europe. A most unlikely harbor, it would seem.

Making a sincere, direct address to God in most of his poems, Kuiper brings praise and gratitude, as well as genuine questions and pleas before the Lord.

As an academic, the start of the school year is more the new year than whatever that thing we do in January. I know no other life rhythm, having begun every fall in a classroom since I excitedly hurried off to pre-school in 1972. And what's not to love: when I met my class on

Two tornadoes within two weeks tore through our leafy little village. The first split trees, broke branches, and caused flooding – a glancing blow. The second was a direct hit.

I’ve wondered what must it have felt like to the Indigenous people to have someone from outside, just say, “Actually no, from now on this place isn’t called that, it’s called This.

We are not called to be certain so that our side wins denominational debates and culture wars. We are not called to be certain so that we can assert our right to be right. God calls us to be certain for the sake of others, especially for the sake of a lost world.

Although a myth persists in some circles that the Reformed tradition has little interest in the evangelist aspect of global mission, the significant place of Reformed Christians in the history of mission tells a different story.

“Devotions,” done well, are a lifelong practice of deeply personal longing and wrestling in response to a God who draws us to the divine self, each with our own unique soul. That sounds beautiful and profound, but a survey of my own devotional history reveals… kind of a mess?

That which remains is more than memories, although the cliché given in sympathy bears some truth.

This book is for everyone regardless of gender, political leanings, denominational affiliation, or stage of life; there is something in Live Laugh Love for all of us to learn. We are all part of shaping the future.

Public health is a communal good that is easily sacrificed when we become primarily concerned with individual interests, political tribes, or short-term economics.

The Hebrew word for amen is emunah, which means, “I see you, you are not alone, and I bear witness to your joy and pain.”

Phenology—not to be confused with phrenology—is the study of seasonal occurrences, things like the date of the first robin, first corn-silking, first migrating nighthawks.

I find the contemporary usage of “lame” to be lazy and hurtful.

There’s just not much evidence that people form their ideas about LGBTQ+ people, about sexuality, gender, and gender expression, and about family and leadership and righteousness, on the basis of theological study and Biblical exegesis. Yes, many of us eventually decide to do a little research. But we are not starting from zero when we do. Our ideas come first from our families and communities and through what we read and see in books, movies, and television. They come from the comments we hear in our early life about people who are different from us. They come from the approval or sanction our actions win us in childhood and from the clothes we are dressed in from the moment of our birth.

Properly understood, the historic Reformed understanding of election should lead us to exercise the judgment of charity toward everyone.