Dear Partner in Preaching, If there was ever a text for the “spiritual but not religious” crowd, this may be it. Before jumping into John, however, perhaps a word or two on SBNR is in order. In general, we use this term rather broadly to indicate variously those who no longer affiliate with religion, the “nones” who seem open to spirituality defined broadly, and those who actually checked the SBNR box on a survey. Which means that SNBR can mean almost anything, and at times seems to encompass a little bit of everything. So here’s how I think of it: SBNR denotes those folks who are indeed open to a sense of mystery, curious about...

One of my favorite Easter memories from childhood is hunting down our Easter baskets and then devouring the chocolate within them. Actually, I have no single memory of that, more like a montage made up of many, many such memories. Guessing that I’m not alone in having such memories, and knowing that many of us will be shopping in the next couple of weeks in preparation for Easter festivities, I wanted to suggest that this year you consider purchasing your Easter treats from Divine Chocolate. Divine Chocolate is produced from the cocoa beans from the Kuapa Kokoo (“Good Cocoa Farmers Company” in the local Twi language) cooperative, a...

Is the church really in decline? I think that depends on how you define “church.” Look, I know that there’s been a lot of ink spilled about the decline of the church in North America. (And I no longer have to modify “church” with “mainline” anymore, as it is indeed the whole church – from liberal to conservative, Roman Catholic to Protestant, evangelical to mainline – that is now in decline.) And I know that the numbers occasioning this spilled ink are pretty much incontrovertible. But here’s the thing (actually two things, the first today and the second next week): Let’s be clear that when we’re talking about church...

On any given day, if you ask me whether I want you to tell me what to order for dinner (or wear, or how to get to work, etc.) or whether I want to choose for myself, I’ll of course say I want the freedom of choice. And you probably would, too. One of the unquestioned assumptions of our modern world is that choice is good. Choice, in fact, is essential to happiness. After all, choice equates freedom, ability, authority, power, possibility. Lack of choice is therefore equated with oppression, depravity, powerlessness, and monotony. Choice is good…always…period. Or is it? In this very engaging TED Talk, Swarthmore psychologist Barry...