The Hebrew term for peace is shalom, which is related to the word shleimut, meaning full or whole. Shalom requires radical inclusion — we can’t be whole unless everybody is included — and harmony — it can’t be peaceful unless all the diverse peoples commit to getting...
Unlike other men, Jesus spoke freely to women in public. He taught theology to women. He had women as disciples or followers. He was clear that women would be active participants in the work of his kingdom from Gender Roles and the People of God: Rethinking What We...
Christianity is not about “right beliefs.” It is about a change of heart. It is about the transformation of ourselves at that deep level that shapes our vision,... our commitment,... and our values.
I’ve come to see that the call of God, the love that bids us welcome, is always a call to become the true you. Not a doormat. The true you. Not an imitation of someone else. The true you: someone made in the image of God, deserving of and receiving love. The ability...
Simplicity is the answer for people tired and weary. Simplicity is marked by a contented lifestyle that rests in God’s grace. It is the commitment to clear out, scale down, and realize the essentials of what we truly need to live well. The intimate search for...
Social justice is not the totality of the Gospel...but the Gospel without a commitment to neighbor, the vulnerable, justice, and the common good (aka social justice) is not a faithful Gospel. The Gospel not only saves but also pursues the Kingdom of God on earth as it...
Before doubt, I thought that faith was a matter of correct beliefs. My religious teachers taught me so: that if I didn’t hold the right beliefs, or at least say that I held them, I would be excommunicated from my community, and perhaps, after death, from God’s...
But our commitment is to do what we have promised, not to meet expectations, whether our own or those of others. If we can learn to measure effectiveness in terms of discerning what is really worth doing and keeping a covenant to do it, we might be both faithful and...
Holy Week invites us to look deeper at our commitment. It calls our first-rate commitment to second-rate causes into question.
The truth that the cross of Christ embodies about us is certainly that we are loved by God, but that we are loved as prodigals, as problematic creatures, as beings whose alienation from God, from one another, from ourselves, and from the inarticulate creation is so...