Happy Easter!...
Easter
Atonement
Good Friday is the day on which Christians reflect on a truth that has long been controversial: the doctrine of atonement. God in the person of Jesus Christ took our sins on himself in order to pay a price that...
Singing songs about Jerusalem
“Your name burns my lips like a Seraph’s kiss, If I forget you, Jerusalem, who are all gold.” So wrote the Israeli song-writer Naomi Shemer in her iconic song “Jerusalem of Gold.” Shemer originally composed this for the celebrations in...
The miracle of suffering
“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted...
Earthly injustice in light of the Resurrection
‘Christ is risen!’ – they sing at church. But I am saddened, my soul is silent. The world is filled with blood and tears, And the sound of this hymn before the altar seems an insult. If He were here...
Power and privilege and the Passion
Many of us have heard that “the wisdom of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” But the cross has mysterious elements for all of us. Christians can retrospectively reason it into seeming obvious. We can make sense...
A.R. Bernard: What were you thinking inviting Chuck Schumer to your church on Easter Sunday?
In case you missed it, Chuck Schumer recently spoke–on Easter Sunday–at A.R. Bernard’s Christian Cultural Center, a megachurch in Brooklyn. Some of you may remember A.R. Bernard. He was one of the original Trump court evangelicals, but quickly left the...
Three Sundays in April (Part 3)
If you had thirty minutes to say something to the most powerful man in the world, what would you say? This is how I started our short series titled “Three Sundays in April.” On April 12, 2020, Donald Trump watched...
Three Sundays in April (Part 1)
If you had thirty minutes to say something to the most powerful man in the world, what would you say? Three evangelical ministers–Greg Laurie, Robert Jeffress, and Jack Graham–had this opportunity during the Easter season. On Palm Sunday, Donald Trump,...
Jim Wallis’s Easter Sermon
If you have time for one more Easter sermon, here is a taste of Jim Wallis at Sojourners: As pastors and churches are living into these new and difficult realities, here are three practical and vocational roles that faith communities...
Churches Will Not Be Open on Easter. But What If They Were?
Donald Trump is hoping to celebrate three resurrections on April 12, 2020. Here they are in order of how I believe the president has prioritized them: His own political future The American economy The resurrection of Jesus Trump knows that...
I Think Donald Trump Just Prophesied His Own Resurrection
His political resurrection, that is. In another blatant and perhaps irresponsible appeal to evangelical voters: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_rwSsxiKpA&w=560&h=315] But there may be a Judas in the mix: But Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, appeared less enthusiastic regarding...
Jon Meacham on Why We Need Religion in Times Like These
Historian Jon Meacham‘s latest book is titled The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross. In his recent op-ed at The New York Times he argues that “religion is the best hope against Trump.” Here is...
The Fox News Crowd Doesn’t Like Obama’s Use of the Phrase “Easter Worshippers”
Here is Obama’s tweet in the wake of the attacks on Sri Lankan Christians who were worshipping on Easter Sunday: The attacks on tourists and Easter worshippers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity. On a day devoted to...
Easter Break
We are taking a few days off while I spend time celebrating Easter with family. “Morning Headlines” and the “Commonplace Book” will be the only posts that will appear here over the course of the next couple of days. See...
Dolley Madison Did Not Institute The White House Easter Egg Roll
J.L. Bell debunks the myth at Boston 1775. A taste: Even the White House Historical Association passes on that factoid, though fobbing it off on others: “Some historians note that First Lady Dolley Madison originally suggested the idea of a public...
Canadian Evangelicals on Easter in an Age of Trump
Check out Douglas Todd‘s piece at the Vancouver Sun. He asks leading Canadian evangelicals what they think about all the evangelicals in the United States who support Donald Trump. Here is a taste: Three Canadian evangelical theologians say the politics of...
Tony Campolo at Messiah College
I don’t make it to Messiah College chapel as much as I would like or should. But yesterday morning I went to see Tony Campolo. It was part evangelical inspiration and part evangelical nostalgia, but I loved the fact that...
N.T. Wright on Christmas
This Advent season, on the recommendation of several The Way of Improvement Leads Home readers, I am reading Biblical scholar N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. I don’t know Wright’s body of...
Today's Caption Contest
I think we need a caption for this photo from yesterday’s White House Easter Egg Roll. If you are posting on Twitter use #sessionscaption...