The week our AC decides to give up the ghost...

I was once in a room with a leader considered godly and mature within the community. This leader began telling us something about a person who wasn’t there. Someone said, gently, “Maybe we shouldn’t gossip right now?” The answer came back: “It’s not gossip if you’d say the exact same thing with the person in the room.” And the telling continued. I’ve thought about that line for years. It made sense in the moment. As a test it almost sounds brave. But is it? [READ FULL ESSAY, LINK BELOW]

I am nowhere near ready to reflect in writing on the events and hospital visits and family conversations and tender prayer times of the past month. The scope of grief and loss is just too vast. Perhaps after the dual memorial of Alexis and Sophia Braga on Sept 5th. But there is something I’m becoming ready to talk about: The power of information. Especially in moments of crisis. When grief and loss hits a community, everyone braces for the pain. But almost no one braces for the information. But the thing about information… is that it comes first. Before the prayer meetings or the flowers or the prepared speeches… first there’s a phone call, then a text, then a (conscious or not) decision about whom to tell next and how and when. Grief is the current everyone eventually feels most strongly. But it’s also the slower-moving current. Underneath grief is a faster current, felt first by all but respected only by the mature: the information current. Who knows. Who doesn’t. Who found out first. Who is telling whom. In the information current, you learn pretty quickly what the people around you are made of. [Read full essay in following post]

Online reaction pieces aren’t usually my thing. But this one’s worth a response because most American Christians are not deeply engaged with Scripture. About two-thirds of Americans identify as Christian, while only 17% currently qualify as “Scripture Engaged.” That means roughly three out of four self-identified Christians are not deeply shaped by the Bible. So when an influential pastor makes a public claim about the Bible, many Christians lack the tools to examine it. Let’s start with what’s true… [Read the full essay]

I’ve been doing some honest digging the last few weeks. Started with a phone call from a friend. He was invited to lead worship at a rally on the National Mall: Rededicate250. Eight hours of prayer, preaching, and singing popular worship choruses, framed as a rededication of America to God in honor of the country’s 250th birthday. Pastors and politicians, the president among them, would give speeches to a faith-filled crowd and a global online audience. My friend was torn. He sees the political coopting of religious songs and symbols as an obvious problem. He believes Christ will not be pressed into the service of any rival powers. On the other hand, he’s convinced the gospel belongs on every platform that will have it, and that the name of the crucified and risen Christ is not diminished by the room it’s sung in. So my friend asked for my advice. We talked for a while.