Voices
Julian DeShazier
God cares nothing for our algorithms
Embracing the random can open us up to the agitations of the Holy Spirit.
Isaac S. Villegas
Present together
When I was a chaplain intern working with people with disabilities, there was one man I visited every Sunday right after worship.
Yolanda Pierce
The spirituality of waiting
If God is present in the planting and the harvest, then God is present in the time when nothing seems to be happening.
Brian Bantum
Cycling my way to peace
Turning the pedals over again and again, I began to feel the fullness of who I am and how I was made.
Rachel Mann
Virtuous friendship
Prudence and constancy might not sound like much fun, but they create the load-bearing relationships communities need to flourish.
Julian DeShazier
The great man theory is poison for the church
The problem isn’t just that it exists. It’s that so many ministers fall for it.
Yolanda Pierce
Phoning home
God, like an attuned parent, hears not just the words we say but also the hidden parts of our hearts.
Philip Jenkins
Praying the hours with W. H. Auden
The poet’s Horae Canonicae sequence is an underappreciated spiritual classic.
Alejandra Oliva
Feeling God in a modernist cathedral-in-progress
While other churches have filled me with wonder, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia brought tears to my eyes.
Samuel Wells
What does it mean to be an inclusive church?
Being a community means welcoming those with diverse views, not cocooning oneself with like-minded people.
Jonathan Tran
What does ‘Christian nationalism’ even mean?
Could it really be all the different things people say it is?
Rachel Mann
Facing a world on fire
The contemplative life is about getting closer to reality, not retreating from it.
Brian Bantum
What’s special about a church building?
How many buildings do we pass by in our daily lives where we could simply walk in, sit down, and participate?
Melissa Florer-Bixler
A pulpit without a context
I asked ChatGPT for a sermon. What it wrote seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.
Debie Thomas
Too much mystery?
Leaving evangelicalism allowed me to embrace the mystery of faith. I wonder if I’ve taken it too far.
Philip Jenkins
How empires spread religion
A global map of Christianity is stalked by imperial ghosts.
Heidi Neumark
The wilderness of a rural ministry circuit
I’m now a half-time “missional coach” to a six-church parish. I have many questions.
Isaac S. Villegas
Tear gas over the soccer field
“You’re welcome to take it back home with you,” my Palestinian friend said as I looked at the US-made canister in my hand. “Actually, take all of them.”
Isaac S. Villegas
Speaking in two tongues
Growing up bilingual primed me to see the gifts offered at Babel and Pentecost.