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How To Have a Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing Christmas
We will be alone this Christmas. Eleven hundred miles from any family. Distanced from friends who will take the risk to be with their grandchildren (as I would if we had them), but it means we won’t be visiting them either. Ah, Covid. You are such a joy stealer. Such a prime example of the curse of sin in a fallen world. Often I wake up thinking of the distance and the empty calendar ahead. Today, as I play my Christmas music, I’m fighting back a few tears. Maybe you’re fighting for joy too. How can we reclaim the joy of this Advent season? I’ve been surprised how our fall…
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Why the Media has Never Been More Dangerous (and how you can find more trustworthy news, especially about the election)
In his essay, “The Weight of Glory,” C.S. Lewis went on record snorting at “the cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone” of his own age. And yet, if a Christian felt called to journalism and broadcasting, I think he would say, as he said of philosophy, “Good [journalism] must exist [because] bad [journalism] needs to be answered.” And bad journalism is multiplying exponentially, er, algorhithmically, out there. The election of 2016 changed journalism. The line between reporting and advocacy has all but disappeared. The New York Times vs the Truth Not long after the 2016 election The New York Times launched a new subscription campaign…
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Hard Questions about Worldview and Character and our Vote
When Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2016, I could hardly believe that I would to have to choose one of them in order to make my vote count. I know, many people made a vote in principle for a third party candidate. But I couldn’t do that. I believe that casting a vote that helps determine the outcome is being the best steward of my citizenship and my vote. Even now, in 2020, I know people who will not vote for either candidate on principle. And yet the candidate they are backing is not even on the ballot in my state. That is a political statement.…
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Hard Questions about the LGBT Community and Our Vote
The LBGT community has asked hard questions of us in its struggle for acceptance: “Why do you care what we do in our own bedrooms?” So state courts struck down laws against sodomy. “Why can’t we have the civil right to marry whom we please?” In 2014 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage. “Why should any employer be able to fire us because of our sexual orientation or gender identity?” In June 2020 the Supreme Court ruled they cannot. One of the cases litigated was that of a funeral home whose biological male employee transitioned to a woman. The court insists that the funeral home may not…
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Fall Fashion, Ugly Runway Models and the Battle for Beauty
(and a Mako Fujimura photo essay on why we need beauty to flourish) No woman I know wants to look unattractive. As fall ushers in sweater weather, we’re in the stores seeking styles and colors that make us feel good.
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Hard questions about abortion and our vote
Why is a candidate being pro-choice such a deal breaker for some Christians? Can’t we put aside our belief about abortion for the sake of unity? (Note: this is a frank discussion and depiction of abortion) I wish that every election season each voter would take the time to watch or re-watch the movie Unplanned. It begins with real empathy for those who seek abortion and those who help them. It’s the true story of Abby Johnson who joined the staff of Planned Parenthood to help women in crisis—the women who called and walked through their doors, tender, upset, weeping. Having experienced two abortions of her own, she wanted to…
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Three Good Questions about How To Love Your Political Enemies
The next two months until the election will be full on cultural and political war. How can we engage in that conflict, especially as we respond to the our political opponents, and still follow Jesus, living with his love for people? Here are three good questions to consider as we check our motives and make our choices… Will we choose retribution? Suppose you are a salon owner and one of your independent stylists wants to bring in a high-profile official for a shampoo and blow dry. Suppose this official is your political enemy. Not just any enemy, but the highest official of the enemy party. The party responsible for shutting…
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Can the Portland Protests Actually Bring Change?–The answer from their own graffiti
America is hurting. Angry. Burning. As we watched George Floyd die under the knee of Officer Chauvin, the outrage in the Black community finally reached the tipping point. Demonstrations spread across the country. The outrage has been deeply felt in the White community too. In this unique moment of our cultural history, both sides seem united in empathy for George Floyd and a desire to see change. Powerful forces are trying to seize this moment to create lasting change. Saturday night was the Portland protesters’ 80th consecutive night of protest and riots. They demand justice for George Floyd and for the Black community. But why are they attacking the police…
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A Brief History of Worldviews or…How did things get so crazy so fast?
Why are we hearing a new vocabulary of “white fragility,” “whiteness,” “intersectionality,” etc? Why are we seeing peaceful protests continue weeks after George Floyd’s death, police and their precincts still targeted by rioters and looters, and people losing their jobs if they don’t adhere to a new race-based orthodoxy? The short answer is…because we are seeing a shift at the worldview level. A view of oppressors and victims that originated in, and has been percolating in the Academy, is reaching the tipping point. Rising into the mainstream with surprising speed. Worldviews explain the way the world works by answering the big questions of life like, Where do we come from?…
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Should We Celebrate Our Founders or Let Their Monuments Fall?
The wrenching death of George Floyd has energized the cancel culture to the tipping point. Statues of Confederate generals, even our Founding Fathers are tumbling down while police stand down from “sanctioned” protests. The leader of one grass-roots group, Take-em-Down NOLA, said after the Charlottesville protest, “We recognize the original sin was the genocide of the Native Americans and the enslavement of the Africans. People bring up the fact that [slave masters] were Founding Fathers. That’s people’s opinions, but for us what disqualifies you is the slave-owning.” Now, after Floyd’s death, this claim is boiling into action and in blue states and cities critical masses are embracing this perspective: slavery and…
