Para ver mejor: Faith through the Latino/a Lens
For Lent I’ve put on new glasses to help me see my faith more clearly. This is my second article exploring what I’m learning from the margins. As a young adult from south Texas, Felipe’s faith was...
View ArticleWhat does God do all day in Houston?
On Tuesday morning I led NewSpring, a Christian non-profit in Spring Branch, in their twice-annual spiritual retreat. We prayed, shared dialogue at tables, and dreamed together. It was a rich...
View ArticleGod’s Story is Counter-Cultural
Over the last number of months, I have had a surprising number of conversations with pastor friends about the perceived pressure to preach something other than the Truth discerned in the Bible. I too...
View ArticleIn Houston as it is in Heaven: A Missional Peace Prayer
I absolutely love the phrase in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, “Beware of practicing your justice before others.” It sounds odd because the work of justice is often very public; and Jesus doesn’t make it...
View ArticleWhy is nonviolence so successful?
Between 1989-1990 13 nations, a total of 1.7 Billion people (or 32% of humanity at the time) were touched by nonviolent revolution. Everyone of them completely nonviolent, except Romania. Everyone...
View ArticlePolitics and Christianity, then and now: Election Year 2012
It’s impossible to miss the fact we’re in a Presidential election cycle. News, advertisements, speeches, and water-cooler discussion is everywhere, and will only get more intense. Does the Christian...
View ArticleSlaves of Justice
Justice, Biblically defined, is so much more than people “getting what they deserve.” Oh goodness no. It’s God’s intent for creation; it has to do with right relationships (which is why “righteousness”...
View ArticleMary: Singing an Impossible New World into Being
Luke 1:26-38, 46-55 It’s not hard to imagine Luke sitting down with Mary the mother of Jesus to hear for the first time the story from Luke 1:26-28, 46-55. Mary: wrinkled, worn, wise, and beautiful,...
View ArticleReading the Bible Jesus Taught
Following Jesus forces us to cross many borders, ask many questions, and re-imagine almost everything we know about God, self, and our world. Our Teacher will time and again point us back to the...
View ArticleRoots of Violence #4: Peace at any cost
This is the fourth post in a series on the Roots of Violence as illustrated in the Bible. I believe that everyone wants peace. It’s a worthy goal spread across all times and places. The real question...
View ArticleRoots of Violence #5: Religion
This is the fifth post in a series on the Roots of Violence as illustrated in the Bible. The Bible has a flare for understatement. Like Genesis 22:9 which says regarding Abraham’s near murder of his...
View ArticleDo you believe Jesus?
I’ve lived most of my life not believing Jesus. I grew up in a deeply faithful Christian family and can honestly not remember a day in my life I didn’t believe in Jesus. But for most of my “Christian”...
View ArticleYOU ARE ENOUGH! The Impact of Shame in Eve’s Story
A reflection on Genesis 3:1-7 It’s not hard to imagine how the seeds of shame were planted in Eve’s heart. There’s much in her early story that would leave the best of us feeling flawed: that lingering...
View ArticleReading Scripture to Survive: Reflections on the Ministry of Richard Hays
Strangely, even unbelievers know that when Christians’ lives are formed more by pride, greed, and lust rather than by humility, generosity, and love, something has gone badly wrong with the believers’...
View Article10 Ways Christmas is STILL Relevant. (#2 is a little scary to think about!)
Perhaps the one thing you cannot theologically say about Christmas is that it is apolitical. Doing so is simply nonsensical. The real miracle of Christmas isn't anyone's virginity but the fact the...
View Article10 Anti-War Bible Passages Everyone Should Know
I would be neither a non-violent peacemaker nor an anti-war Christian if not for Scripture and the story of our nonviolent God in human history. Here are 10 passages that spark my passion for peace and...
View ArticleMental Illness is a Normal Human Experience
Mental illness is a normative part of human existence. As normal a part of your and my life as any sickness or illness. From temporary situational anxiety and depression or anger we all experience; to...
View Article