The steps toward forgiveness and reconciliation include the giving of—and getting of—grace. We don’t often think about grace (other than maybe as a person’s name, in light of physical attributes, or as a ritual that some families perform before a meal) but the fact is, there used to be public, Read more…
Can we have civility when we don’t agree on what’s true and what’s not? When we hold on to our worldviews, and when they become more than merely window dressing, and they become integrated into our overall identities, we can find it incredibly difficult to engage with others civilly. So, we Read more…
Wisdom is a skill. In our modern era, that values speed over taking time, and that values the new over the old, wisdom is viewed, not as a skill, but as something unattainable. This intellectual and cultural state of affairs has not always been the case. As a matter of Read more…
Being “on the bubble” is about how much value you add to the situation, the resolution, or the conflict before the bubble bursts, all over you and all over the other party. Being “on the bubble” is about being in a place where you are neither advancing nor retreating, merely Read more…
The moral arc of the universe bends towards justice. And justice, supposedly, is blind. Or so they say. But people, with their prejudices, conflicts, disagreements, and dissensions, have trouble arcing towards blindness. The issue with justice is not the fact of justice, that which is applied through the creation of Read more…
There used to be a lot of talk about great people in history. Books, philosophies, ideas, inventions, and other movements in the past were lionized by being included as part of an overall “canon” of history that people in a present age dutifully memorized, internalized, and regurgitated to the next Read more…
An all knowing, all seeing, all good God, sent His only begotten Son to the Earth to save sinners. Just writing this line, at this time of year, at the end of such a year as 2016, is considered naïve and near-sighted by many people. However, as a statement of Read more…
It’s hard to know what the best advice is. After all, it’s been a long 2016, and its shaping up to be an even longer 2017. Here is a list of some ideas to keep you going in the year to come. Or too look back on and wonder what Read more…
Remember how easy it was to say “thank you” when you were a child and you had nothing to lose? Yeah…neither do we… And the thing is, as we become fully autonomous adults, with our own minds, motivations, and needs, it becomes less easy than it ever was in childhood. Read more…
The power of stories is undeniable, particularly around the Thanksgiving holiday. Stories about the Pilgrims. Stories about the country today. Stories about the country yesterday. Stories about the neighborhood. Stories about the family. Thanksgiving is a curious holiday, because at its root, it is about thanking God (who the Pilgrims Read more…