Reconciling to Place
Well, Plundered is out in the world and it’s been a full fun stretch of travel, workshops, preaching, and podcasts. As you might imagine, my margin has been...
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For the Activist
A vision of transformation big enough to include our own lives
Dispatch from a Lonely Beach in Michigan
The expected loneliness and surprising companionship on a dark and quiet beach
Another Cultivating Belonging Story
Get your tickets to the Plundered book launch today!
Experiences of Cultivating Belonging
Stories of learning to love and be loved by our places
Cultivating Belonging
A rootless people learning to befriend our places
Telling the Truth and Loving Our Neighbors
Contending for truth among complicated, broken, and beloved people
The Meanings of Truth
Bearing (strategic) witness to the truth
Drowning in Deceit
Persistent, purposeful deception is effective but Christians won't give up on the truth.
Hope in Troubling Times
A sermon about becoming people of hope on the Sunday before Juneteenth
The Religion of Whiteness
Today I’m sharing an interview with Dr. Glenn Bracey, co-author with Michael Emerson of the important new book, The Religion of Whiteness. I’ve benefited...
A Leviathan, Whiteness as Religion, and Brown Faces in White Places
Three timely books to help us understand systemic racism, Christian nationalism, and whiteness as a religion
Juneteenth and Worship
Why and how to include Juneteenth themes in corporate worship
Public and Humble Presence
Observations from a pro-Palestine encampment
Glory and Good
On living as Christ's free people in complicated times
Attention, Grief, and Love
On not looking away.
Living in the Aftermath of Theft
Learning to interpret a world organized by plunder.
Loving Opposition
Henri Nouwen, MLK's principles of nonviolence, and community-building confrontation.
Questioning the Brown v. Board Model of Reconciliation
When proximity to whiteness isn't the goal.
The Poet-Preacher
The latest issue of Comment includes an article by Walter Brueggemann adapted from his book about preaching, Finally Comes the Poet, first published in 1989....
Mustard Seeds and Yeast
At the conclusion of a recent ministry conference, I bumped into one of the organizers and was able to share how refreshing the experience had been. I'm not...
The Connection Between Racial and Environmental Injustice
The new book has a title.
How much to say in 2024? How loudly to say it?
Photo credit: Elena. How helpful is it to publicly oppose the MAGA-Trump movement in 2024? I've been wondering about this and am struggling to come up with...
God's Plans Are Better Than Ours
A Christmas Eve sermon.
Peacemaking Before the Parousia
I preached from 2 Peter 3:8-15 last Sunday. The passage ends, "Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at...
Maturity Matters
Yesterday I had two calls with people I've not met in person. The first was with a congregation out east, a mostly white church that has taken decisive steps...
Thankful
Leaf litter on a recent walk through a drizzly Jackson Park. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are a few things I'm thankful for. Beautiful architecture....
The Privilege of Uncomplicated Grief
The immature instinct to make complicated situations simple.
But do we love them?
Changing minds is more difficult than signaling self-righteousness.
Some Recommendations
Racial justice in Oregon, literary farm life in Illinois, fly fishing in Washington, and sabbath-keeping... everywhere.
Du Bois on (Mostly) Ignoring the Racists
Limiting the time spent defending the truth from those committed to ignorance.
Learning Where We Are
On learning to know where we are so that we might love God and neighbor.
The Solution to Simplistic Solutions
“The farther you are from the problem, the simpler the solution seems.”
Ecosystems of Jubilee
A manifesto for the church to join Jesus's Jubilee campaign and bring God's economy to the neighborhood.
Feeling Forsaken
Christ's cry of rejection becomes our anthem of resurrection.
Becoming People Who Won't Look Away
Rejecting apathy and cynicism in the face of predictable tragedies
Naming Places and Placing Names
Choosing to remember the people behind the names.
On Not Walking Away
Earlier this week I read a critique of critical race theory (CRT) which provoked a couple of observations which I posted to social media. Today I read a...
My Year With Books
The authors who helped me attend affectionately in 2022.
The State of the Multiethnic Church Movement
Glimpses of the future from Dallas and Indianapolis
Inheriting the Land
"Blessed are the meek; they will inherit the land."
I'm writing another book!
A few weeks ago I signed a contract with InterVarsity Press to write the book I've been thinking about for the past decade, tentatively titled Communities of...
Rethinking Reconciled Relationships
Relationship doesn't distract from material injustice; it makes dealing with it unavoidable.
"Great good is done while we're asleep."
The author of a book I recently finished grew up on a Midwestern farm. He wrote lovingly of his father, a man whose difficult work didn't keep him from...
The Cost of Justice
Here are two anecdotes to illustrate what's been on my mind this week. First, earlier this week I was on a video call with a church from the east cost...
Moral Weirdos
Earlier this summer I joined about 60 other Chicago-area faith leaders for a die-in at a gun shop a few miles outside city limits. We were compelled to...
Where Was the White Church?
This week I got to speak at a conference focused on justice hosted by Progressive Baptist Church here in Chicago. Here is a lightly edited version of what I...
Telling the Truth Like Someone's Life Depends on It
Last week, following the terrible massacre in Uvalde, Texas Governor Greg Abbott used Chicago as an example of why stricter gun laws wouldn't have prevented...
Where Hope Can Have Its Way
Driving to the church office earlier this week, I listened to the latest report from Uvalde, Texas. The reporter was interviewing residents of that...