Election season. A time of anxiety. People frowning, griping. No one thinks conventions, ads, parties and politics make us better, holier or wiser. The contest is one of nastiness and negativity, feeding our inner darkness and sharpening our anger and fears. How many relationships have been fractured because of the polarization and intensity of political viewpoints?

So much is at stake – and not just politically for our country. The soul of the nation – yes, there is such a thing – is up for grabs, as is your own personal spirituality. How do you as a Christian maintain... READ MORE

God must blush, or feel embarrassed, or simply weep over us during election season. God yearns for us to live robust, compassionate, joyful lives, but we get knotted up in frustration, judgment, fretting and even contempt.

So for starters, thinking toward what spiritual equilibrium might look like, and even toward what healing the soul of our nation might require, let’s name that whatever throws you off balance, whatever causes you to question to intelligence and character of your neighbor, all of the not speaking and unfriending, and posting on social media snide or venomous jabs: all of this is... READ MORE 

My closing sentence in last Thursday’s email was “It’s up to us to be and live as God’s peculiar people who know how to love and to hope in God.” A lovely way of picturing what that might look like is in the great quote from Arthur Brooks (from the 2020 National Prayer Breakfast) – when he urged us to be “missionaries for love in the face of contempt.” Join me in committing to be such a missionary today!

Easier said than done. Forces tug and tear at your mind and heart, making this a season... READ MORE

John Wesley, founder of Methodism, loved to gather people and ask “How is it with your soul?” One of the largest questions of this election season! No one thinks conventions, ads, parties and politics make us better, holier or wiser. What throws you off balance, what makes you crazy, what divides you from your neighbor is not of God. The risen Christ visited the fearful, anxious disciples hiding behind locked doors, trembling over the troubles of their world – and he said “Peace.” Are you at peace?

I am perplexed to see, on Facebook and Instagram, and in emails... READ MORE