I have been learning so much about Dolly Parton since her death. The more I have learned, the more taken I have become by a life invested in something I can only describe as a beautifully holistic vision of flourishing—the
Yesterday, Wendell Berry died. He was 92 years old, at home in Port Royal, Kentucky—the place to which he had given so much of his life, attention, labor, and love. There seems something fitting about that. Wendell Berry spent a
Beyond the Ruins: Building Communities Without Rebuilding the Walls Why the future of faith requires more than reconstruction—it requires practices of re-membering One of the unexpected gifts of publishing my recent long-form essay, “After Deconstruction,” has been the conversations it
Thirty Years in Seattle On immigration, belonging, faithful presence, & the slow education of beauty. In the first days of August, thirty years will have passed since Lynette and I loaded everything we owned into a moving truck, hitched our
Yesterday morning, July 23, 2026, Christ’s church—and so many of us who loved him—lost one of its great prophetic imaginations. Tom Sine died at the age of ninety. Author, Christian futurist, mentor, practitioner, and faithful friend, Tom spent a lifetime
“The gospel of Jesus is about reconciliation—reconciliation with God and reconciliation with one another.”— John M. Perkins I am grieving the death of Dr. John Perkins. Dr. Perkins died on March 13, 2026, at the age of 95. My heart
Yesterday, October 1, 2025, the world lost one of its most extraordinary voices for creation. Dr. Jane Morris Goodall, died at the age of 91. Her journey from curious child to pioneering primatologist, conservationist, and global humanitarian is a reminder
Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural, but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness. WALTER
I was saddened to learn of the death of Pope Francis earlier today. He was 88 years old. Yet, I am grateful that he was able to participate in yesterday’s Easter service. Pope Francis was born in Argentina as Jorge
“God weeps with us so that we may one day laugh with him.” Jürgen Moltmann I am grieving the death of Dr. Jürgen Moltmann. Dr. Moltmann died yesterday, June 3rd, 2024. He was 98 years old. My heart is so
I am so, so, so grateful to Tripp, Tony, Josh, and all the funders of this podcast. What a gift! I can only imagine all the creative energy, conversations, and time invested… thank you! Emergent Village and the entire emerging
Speechless and grieved upon learning of the death of one the the truly beautiful people on this planet… Brian Bajari died Tuesday, February 20, 2024; this year Brian would have been 53. If you were blessed to have encountered Brian
Saddened to learn of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She was 96 years old. In coming days we will learn much more, we will be aided in remembering her 70+ year reign, and will be aided in
We see that it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as the cause of
Saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Ronald J. Sider, on July 27, 2022, Dr. Sider was 82 years old. “God’s Word teaches a very hard, disturbing truth. Those who neglect the poor and the oppressed are really not
“God is not a ‘being’ removed from creation, ruling it from outside in the manner of a patriarchal ruler; God is the source of being that underlies creation and grounds its nature and future potential for continual transformative renewal in
As the details of Saturday’s horrific mass shooting in Buffalo continue to emerge it is painfully clear, yet again, that the evils of assumed white body supremacy and black body racism persist. Racial hatred ought to have no place in
“Genuine love is rarely an emotional space where needs are instantly gratified. To know love we have to invest time and commitment…’dreaming that love will save us, solve all our problems or provide a steady state of bliss or security
Today was a very sad day. We had to put our beloved Jack down. One-eyed Jack. We think he was part Havanese and part Shih Tzu… but we’re sure he was all love. Not sure how he lost his eye
“The practice of justice is at the center of God’s purpose for human life. It is so closely related to the worship of the living God as the only true God that no act of worship is acceptable to [God]
…every human being – without distinction of sex, age, race, skin color, language, religion, political view, or national or social origin – possesses an inalienable and untouchable dignity. Dr. Hans Küng Sadden to learn of the death of the great
Quantum theory also tells us that the world is not simply objective; somehow it’s something more subtle than that. In some sense it is veiled from us, but it has a structure that we can understand. John Polkinghorne I’m grieving
“I’m not a foodie; I’m an eatie. I don’t have anything against foodies. I just don’t have the time or the interest to do that much research.” Jim Gaffigan Stand-up comedy can be – among other things – prophetic. I
52 years ago today Ben & Rosella and my older sister Michelle (my younger brother – Dallas – wasn’t yet on the scene) welcomed me into the world. It was the same year humans first stepped on the moon; the
March is Women’s History Month. Women’s History Month is an annual declared month set aside to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. What we now know as the month long observation in the USA, began
“Next Year in Jerusalem!” my brother reassured me, as I lamented our pandemic Easter. 2020 relentlessly exposed the myth of control I try to hide behind. Sometimes I fear the cracks in my spiritual, emotional, relational, and physical realms will
Today is the annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance. Its the day set apart to remember those people who have been murdered simply because they have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth. All violence
Our Precarious Joy by Alok [support the author] feeling is dangerous because it requires us to dwell in anguish, rather than anesthetize it (as if it never happened). so many fear joy because they fear losing it. they hate us
What makes the Gospel offensive isn’t who it keeps out, but who it lets in. Rachel Held Evans Rachel Held Evans died on May 4th, 2019. Many of us had been praying for her after learning she was placed in
“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” Mary Oliver Mary Oliver, the great poet of presence died on January 17, 2019, she was 83
