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“Sometimes I’m afraid of God when I read the Bible.” The statement came from my son after he had spent a bit of time wandering around in the delights of Genesis 19 for an assignment. It’s quite the passage.

New today from the Century: Jamie Smith on social media as disordered liturgy, Shawnthea Monroe on wearing a collar for Lent, more.

"What's with the collar?” asked a UCC colleague. “Did you lose a bet?” I smiled and explained that this was my Lenten discipline: wearing a collar for 40 days.

If the current bipartisan push leads to serious immigration reform, we'll all be the better for it. But what constitutes serious reform?

Last week, Christian social justice activist Ron Sider declared that he is quitting AARP because it's opposing changes to Social Security and Medicare that he finds reasonable: proposals that would ask more from wealthier seniors. There are a lot of ideas out there for shoring up Medicare and Social Security, ideas that should be given serious consideration. And I agree with Sider on several points.

“I’m having a wardrobe crisis!” “It’s just a retreat,” answered my sensible wife. “Saturday morning casual. How would you usually dress for a retreat?” “Usually I would be the pastor,” I replied. This was different. Today I was both the new girl and the pastor’s wife. What to wear? Who to be?

New today from the Century: The editors on immigration reform, Bob Francis on Ron Sider's comments on AARP, more.

The church of my childhood paid no attention to Lent. The season's words sounded too mystical to us, too strange and too Catholic.