I wasn’t lost. I had the GPS running as I walked in the neighborhood around my office. At a certain point in all of my mostly right turns, my walk felt circular and all the roads I’ve driven many times looked different enough from my pedestrian point of view to usher in some doubt. I…
life
Agreements—Abortion (Part 2)
Story time Many years after the fact and many years after last seeing each other, a former classmate told me that she’d had an abortion. As we talked, I remember wondering what life would have been like for her had she felt safe telling me and others—not in a confessional way but in a “Hey,…
Abortion—a Conservative Christian Agreement
I think of Conservative Christian Agreements as ideas about how we should live that have been agreed upon by conservative Christians for the sake of some sort of control. I don’t know all there is to know–I do not at all see myself as an expert. I see myself as an explorer. And in this…
Real Simple Nostalgia (part 2)
For the first time, I’m struck by the excess, the endless invitations on most pages to spend a bunch of money and to figure out a reason why it’s worth it. Even the bagel spread on pages 144 and 145 of December 2021 is wooing me, causing me to wonder how much better my breakfast…
Real Simple Nostalgia (part 1)
I’m thumbing through my stash of magazines for what I think will be the last time. They’ve travelled with me, mostly from Athens, Georgia. One or two from Michigan circa 2007. I’ve held onto them because I thought they were beautiful and because they really were especially over a decade ago (maybe closer to 20…
What are we supposed to say?
Don’t speakDon’t speak outDon’t speak out loudlyDon’t speak out loudly today Today is for contemplationToday is for prayerToday is actually for silence We don’t want to make people madWe don’t want to make people sad We don’t want people to think that God has a clear opinion on their politics; in this area of life God…
The Way We Pray
[Context: US President’s Inauguration] The way prayer was used today was…hmmm…hard to hear. Moments like this make it challenging to think of myself as a Christian. And then I remind myself of my imperfection. Do I have the right to criticize? In my criticism am I speaking a version of the Pharasee’s proud prayer, “God,…