The Taliban. Just the name evokes intense emotions of anger and hatred because, for many in the West, the Taliban is known for one thing: terrorism. How should Christians react to the Taliban? Well, if we’re at all serious about our Christian identity, we must look to the words of Jesus: You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies ...

We need to repent of blaming the victim so that we can respond to the suffering of our neighbors with compassion. And we need to repent of the idea that God is out to get people. God’s not against you or me or even John Piper. God doesn’t cause natural disasters. Bad things just happen so stop blaming God. God wants us to stop finding someone else to blame and to start working toward healing one another. ...

Did Jay Gatsby love Daisy? I read The Great Gatsby in high school and, I’m sorry to say, I don’t remember much about it except that it was kind of romantic. And that billboard with the eyes of God staring down on everyone was unforgettable. But I just saw the movie and as I watched Leonardo DiCaprio’s great performance, my faith in Jay’s love faded by the minute. There’s no doubt that he made a great sacrif ...

What the heck is going on in Syria? If you are like me, you have a problem keeping all the players straight, and the unfamiliar Arab names don’t help. Thankfully, the Syrian President has a relatively easy name to remember, Bashar al-Assad, but keeping track of who’s who and which side they’re on is a real challenge. Frankly, even when I can keep track, I’m very skeptical that I am getting anything close to ...

I hate Abercrombie and Fitch. It all started a few years ago. A member of my youth group worked at one of their stores in a suburb of Chicago. I was minorly troubled that she was employed at the store. But what really flamed my loathing for Abercrombie was when they asked her to model their clothes for their catalogue. She told me about their offer and I responded in the only way an over-protective youth pa ...

On Tuesday, Angelina Jolie went public with the news that she had a preventative mastectomy and we can’t stop talking about her. Which is nothing new – talking about Angelina is an American pastime. We have opinions – strong opinions – about Brad and Jennifer and Billy Bob, about her international adoptions, her humanitarian causes and sometimes we even talk about her movies. We enjoy loving and hating her ...

Mother’s Day is not primarily a call for sentimental reflection about our mothers. It’s a call to disarm. It’s a call to nonviolence. It’s a call to follow the God of nonviolent love, not the violent Caesars of our world. Finally, Mother’s Day is a call to peace, justice, and love for all of creation. Only when our lives are patterned in that way can we live out Howe’s dream to “solemnly take counsel with e ...

I love Anne Lamott. I have a spiritual crush on her because she says things about prayer like this: Prayer is taking the chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up. The opposite may be true: We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape. That’s all anyone really needs to know about Anne L ...

A wonderful production of the play Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts is currently being staged by the AstonRep company at the BoHo Theatre in Chicago. My apologies to out-of-towners who won’t have the opportunity to see the show, because it is blessed with a gifted ensemble, headed by Mark Jacob Chaitin and Ryan Hamlin in the lead roles. Hamlin plays Adam, who, unlike the Biblical Adam, has no relationship with ...

Can politics serve the common good? That’s one of the big questions in Jim Wallis’s latest book On God’s Side. It is the right question to ask because American politics seems irredeemably mired in the blame game. I, along with many other young people, was hoping for a new kind of politics five years ago when we helped to elect Barack Obama. We thought we were making that change for a new kind of politics. Y ...