With Earth Day in mind, I’m going to suggest you find the time to watch Bill Gates’ TED Talk about why he’s backing – and investing heavily in – a new kind of energy technology that has phenomenal potential to change, well, just about everything about the energy conversation. The challenges we face, as Gates describes, are monumental. But so also is the creativity and commitment of some of the folks leading the charge to find solutions to our problems. If you’ve seen Bill Gates give earlier presentations, it’s kind of neat to see his growth in terms of his confidence, his use of illustrations and data, and his ability to engage...

I saw a friend recently to catch up…on family, work, mutual friends, and the like. When we’re together, we also often brainstorm, especially about the kind of churches we’d like to be a part of (occupational hazard!). After filling me in on some of the latest and greatest ideas she’s had about the church she leads, she stopped and said, “You know, you’re about the only person I know who doesn’t think I’m crazy when I talk this way.” “Actually,” I replied with a smile, “I think you’re crazy too. But the church needs crazy right now.” Do you know what I mean? We’ve been doing things the same way for years and...

On this 43rd Earth Day I thought I’d reflect just briefly on a biblical approach to caring for the environment. Which can, of course, be a tricky thing, as the Bible can be a challenging book to interpret. It is just diverse enough, and the history of its interpretation just broad enough, that readers can come to very different conclusions about any number of issues. Indeed, over the history of the church, the Bible has been interpreted so as to support a huge variety of positions, even those that may seem diametrically opposed. For instance, there were biblical arguments used to justify opposition to slavery and to support slavery. And...

“Vocation” is one of my favorite concepts in theology. Stemming from the Latin word vocare, “to call,” it means the calling of God to all Christians (and, some would say, all people) to participate in the care of the world and people God loves so much. Often when we talk about vocation, we are referring to someone’s job or profession. I know a great real estate agent, for instance, who feels her calling is to help people find a home in which they can flourish. But as this very example indicates, even when we talk about a job as one’s vocation, it’s never just the job or even what the job accomplishes. It’s about...