Mark's Blog
The Lenten Journey — An Invitation to Say No or to Say Yes?
Jesus was tempted. So are we. He was tempted by Satan to be relevant (turn stones into bread); to be spectacular (throw yourself down and not get hurt); and to be powerful (I will give your charge over the whole creation; all recounted in Luke 4:1-13). Three very big...
Ukraine — War From the Ego, and Invitation to the Soul
Like most of us, my stomach is in knots over what is happening in Ukraine. Woven together are chords of fear, threads of indignation, and skeins of disbelief that Russia would wantonly breach international law, violate a neighboring country’s sovereignty, and make...
The Flaws i9n Being Woke
In 2009 journalist Bill Bishop wrote a compelling book, The Big Sort:Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart. He makes the case that over the past several decades people have been living, working, worshipping, recreating, and vacationing in...
Free Speech and Expressions of Pain
These days free speech doesn’t seem so free. There are gotcha squads all over the internet - in the media, on college campuses – and nearly any place where people gather. And increasingly, the accused people are paying a price: they are getting vilified, suspended...
Meeting People Where They Are — and the Mandorla
It is widely considered to be a hallmark of leadership. It is a goal in business, an expectation in social work and psychology – and an intention in ministry: meet people where they are. Meet them where they are emotionally, where they are in terms of their...
Moral Outrage does Not Change People’s Behavior
During my first year in seminary, I regularly commuted with a classmate to our shared ministry site, a Masonic Home for Senior Citizens, a twenty-minute drive away. She was gifted and committed, and as it turned out, deeply troubled. She made a couple of suicide...
“The Poor” Have Names and Stories
Jesus had a lot to say about the poor. He spoke to them, he spoke of them — and often invited them to eat with him, breaking all sorts of social and religious conventions. And at the same time Jesus challenged nearly everyone who was not poor to do something to...
Martin Luther King’s Challenge
Martin Luther King gave us more than a holiday. He leaves us with a legacy that we would do well to follow
Breaking Through on January 6
January 6: two contrasting images — God breaking through on Epiphany and mob breaking through the doors of the Capitol