In the urban Jewish neighborhoods of late 19th and early 20th century America (so I’m told), one thing you could always count on was that no matter the weather or time of year, standing outside ...Read More
My formation? How did I get here? Let me tell you… My formation is informed by my Catholic upbringing. Unfortunately, the church I grew up in taught one basic ideology—you sin, you go to hel...Read More
Labels are cumbersome. To self-identify as an atheist, or a Jew, or a Hindu, or a Muslim, and so on, requires that you accept ownership of all that is attached to that label. It is wholly irrelevant w...Read More
Popularly known as the “Muslim Gandhi,” Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988) led hundreds of thousands of Pashtuns in nonviolent resistance to the oppressive British colonizers in India, suffering great...Read More
First let me make something perfectly clear — I love my denomination. The United Methodist Church‘s theology is historically grounded in a movement attentive to the holistic character of h...Read More
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and I are suffering a spiritual identity crisis brought on by the death of a culture-based practice of Lutheranism. The practice of church has been d...Read More
I’m emboldened to resist
These pleas to desist
To a mindless assimilation
Sans critical examination
Of mythic cyborg-like notions
Laced with spiritual potions
A “We” with no “I” denti...Read More
Have you ever heard the expression, “You’re in my personal space?” As Americans, we love our space. During the frontier days, barb wire delineated my space from your space. Today, elongated “p...Read More
How can we reframe religious and spiritual language so it can be used to give voice to the seekers, the marginalized, the doubters, the broke, those in need of transformation, and those in need of ins...Read More
For years I was both drawn toward and resistant to the notion of seminary. I was resistant because, in my mind, seminary was something that led absolutely and necessarily to ministry in the church (Ch...Read More