Dear friends,

The man began to cry as he told me his story. I had known him for many years, but this was the first time I saw tears stream down his face. 

He grew up in a rural town where there was no sustainable work. Because of his family’s poverty, his dad left home and became a traveling construction worker.

It was a bittersweet survival. On the one hand, his dad made a little money and helped the family eat. But on the other, they were growing up without a father.

Eventually but unsurprisingly, his dad got badly injured on a job site. He tried to continue, but the construction company provided no medical insurance. It treated him and the other workers as throwaways.

His broken body could no longer do the heavy work, and he had no choice. He returned home to his impoverished family — injured, empty-handed, and humiliated. 

But his dad was devoted to his family and continued fighting for their survival... Read More

Dear friends,

Tomorrow, January 20th, is a significant day in the United States and around the world. We’ll witness the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, the inauguration of president Trump, and the first full day of the ceasefire in Israel-Palestine.

On this significant day, I warmly invite you to join me and Pastor Munther Isaac from Bethlehem for 30 minutes of prayer at 11am Central (12pm Eastern; 8pm Ethiopia). Our meditation will focus on Jesus’ promise, “Blessed are the nonviolent, because they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). I can’t think of a more timely theme for this important day and the unpredictable days ahead.

Our online prayer gathering is hosted by Churches for Middle East Peace and is free for all. You can learn more and register here.

I also warmly invite you to listen to my 60-minute conversation with Pastor Munther and Ben Norquist from last November. We discussed Jesus’ Beatitudes and how they speak to our world today... Read More

Dear friends,

Happy New Year and welcome to 2025! 

We’re not only heading into a new year. We’re also entering the second quarter of the 21st century and a volatile cultural moment. 

Amidst many joys, the signs of our times are troubling: we see rising violence and authoritarianism around the world, including here in the United States. According to PRRI’s “2023 American Values Survey,” more than one in three Americans (38%) believe that the country is so badly off track that they would support an authoritarian leader to try to fix it. More than one in three white Evangelicals (37%) agree, and almost half of Republicans (48%) agree. Almost one in four Americans (23%) believe violence may be necessary to save the country, and almost one in three white Evangelicals (31%) agree.

As Bob Dylan sang in 1963, “The times they are a-changin’.” 

At the start of this new year and quarter century, I want to introduce you to the ethics of Alexei Navalny (1976-2024)... Read More

Dear friends,

A very merry Christmas to you from snowy Chicagoland!

This Christmas season, I’m delighted to offer three gifts of encouragement, orientation, and beauty. 

If you’re looking for an encouraging but honest Christmas sermon, I preached last Sunday on “Ending to Begin.” This is one of the most personal sermons I’ve ever given. It tells several stories from my life in which the endings I feared in my journey opened into new beginnings of hope. As we meditate on the birth of Jesus, we discover that his story is also our story: we end to begin. I hope this message is encouraging to you.

Christmas has become such a polarizing topic in the culture war. We hear slogans like “Put Christ back into Christmas,” and yet I observe that even our Christian messaging often ends up missing Christ. Last night, I visited a local church which gave a Christmas tract to each of its guests. The tract claimed to tell the true story of Christmas, and yet it described Jesus as a “hero” and “warrior” – words the New Testament never uses to describe the Prince of Peace... Read More

Dear friends, 

How are you feeling after the American election? 

Some of my friends have expressed a sense of triumph, like God has answered their prayers and America is destined for unprecedented greatness. Other friends have expressed a sense of despair, like the worst has happened and things are falling apart. 

In this post-election polarization, I’d like to offer two responses. 

The first is a sermon I gave on the Sunday after the election. In this message, I invite the community to refocus our attention on Jesus’ core teaching and how Jesus’ earliest followers sought to practice this teaching in the Roman Empire. It’s a call back to the basics, starting with an increased awareness of our vulnerability and belovedness. My sermon begins at minute 31 in the recording.

The second is a webinar that I did with Peter Anderson at Peace Catalyst. This open-hearted conversation focuses on post-election peacemaking and how Jesus’ Beatitudes can serve as our guide into this vital practice... Read More