My wife Jen loves Christmas. Our Christmas tree is usually setup well in advance of December 25th (no later than Thanksgiving), and a steady stream of Christmas movies are playing at any given time (Miracle on 34th Street, the new version, is on right now). Some years...

Everyone’s complicit at the cross.

By complicit, I don’t just mean in a general everyone-has-sinned-and-fallen-short-of-the-glory kind of way, although that is true too.

I mean, the cross reveals the specific ways that we, as individuals and as a society, are complicit i...

Why the book of Nehemiah is no justification for Trump's border wall. 

 photo credit: Mike Blake (Reuters)

We are not far into 2018 and there is already heated conversation happening around the country regarding the construction of a border wall.

Not only that, there are...

I think it's about time for our children’s church songs to reflect God's heart for justice and the realities of our current world. Many of the songs I grew up singing in VBS and children’s church, like "Father Abraham" and "Jesus, loves the little children," are still...

I sat down in my aisle seat hoping to find some rest on the plane ride home from a speaking event. As an introvert who travels and speaks a lot, I like to use the flight time to decompress. Unfortunately, my seatmate started chatting me up before I could slip my headph...

The Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale has a rich history, a vibrant community, and a lot of exciting new neighborhood initiatives. So much more is happening in North Lawndale than what is often portrayed in the media. Here are 10 hidden gems for those who may not...

The Center for Inclusivity made a call for people of faith and conscience to join them at the Pride parade in Chicago to counter-protest the hateful religious extremists who show up each year. The goal was to #makelovelouder, a tongue and cheek way to elevate love for...

After hearing about Trump's visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture and visiting the museum myself a few days later, I wondered how someone could see all the things I saw there and still support some of the policies and positions the new ad...

The Beatitudes (A Contemporary Paraphrase):

Blessed are the undocumented, the imprisoned, and families on welfare, 

 For theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are those who lament injustice, violence, abuse, and oppression, 

 For they will be comforted

Blessed are th...

If Trump is good at anything, it’s building a brand. What Trump has done over the last year or so has been building a different kind of brand you might call: Trumpism.

Trumpism is a new brand of American racism. It is a new iteration of the same old American racism tha...