Can we talk about Ferguson? And now Staten Island? I won’t be surprised if you’re not sure you want to keep reading. It’s hard stuff – unpleasant and, perhaps more to the point, divisive. I myself have friends on all sides of the spectrum of attitudes about the grand jury decisions, about the protests that followed, and about the state of race relations in our country. Which is why so many of us would be just as happy to avoid talking about this in general and most certainly at church. But there’s more than one way to talk about an issue, and I’d like to invite us to think about another tact. Might we, for instance, talk with...

Well, the Scots have spoken. While the campaign for Scottish independence received 1,617,989 votes in yesterday’s referendum, those wishing to stay part of the United Kingdom accounted for 2,001,926 votes, a 55%-45% victory. If you’re like me, in recent weeks you’ve likely learned a lot about Scotland, the UK, Great Britain, and much more that we never got to in our social studies classes. But if you haven’t had a chance to keep abreast, it’s not to late. I’ve put below two videos by CGP Grey, a wonderful animator and teacher (I don’t know if he’s actually a teacher by profession, but his videos are reliably educational and...

I love big questions. Questions about meaning, existence, purpose. I love big questions. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that I believe I can answer them, just that I love struggling with them. 🙂 That wasn’t always the case, though. When I was a freshman in college and looking at required courses, I shied away from the intro. to philosophy course because I couldn’t imagine spending all my time trying to answer questions to which there are no answers. As a tribute – or, I suppose, a critique, depending on your point of view (though I mean it as a tribute 🙂 ) – to my liberal arts education at Franklin & Marshall College,...

Just five and a half minutes. That’s all you’ll need to take a brief mental health break from wherever you are or whatever you’re doing to be astonished by the treasures of the ocean that David Gallo shows us in this remarkable TED Talk. Gallo, who has led expeditions exploring the remains of the RMS Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck, lends animated narration to riveting footage. Go ahead, you can afford it, take the 5:20 this Talk requires. You won’t regret it. Notes: 1) If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click the title at the top of the post in order to watch the video. 2) The...