Can we just banish the term “lay person”? I’m serious. Even though I grew up with this term, know more or less just what it means, and tend to use it myself, I still think it’s high time to get rid of it. Why? Because it sets up a dichotomy between those who are experts and, well, those who most decidedly are not. Not sure what I mean? Then just tell me what “lay person” means in the first place. Those reading this blog who have spent some time in seminary might be quick to remind me that it comes from the Greek word “laos” which means people. Okay, fine. Now tell me what “lay person” means to anyone who hasn’t studied...

Heated conversations about homosexuality have been occurring in the church for the better part of the last twenty-five years, reaching a fevered pitch in my own denomination with a vote to recognize same-gendered relationships and ordain ministers in such relationships in 2009. Since then, the issue has not abated and, given the number of states voting this fall to define marriage, in some ways has only grown in significance. Given all these discussion, I have been regularly surprised by how little Christians seem to know about what the Bible actually says about homosexuality. For this reason, and in light of ongoing conversations and the...

Today’s Daily Bread devotional considers the call to “give to God what is God’s” by striving to live out the ethics of God’s kingdom in our daily lives. As I noted in that post, that’s can sometimes be easier said than done. When it comes to our political lives, for instance, it can be difficult to discern at times what candidates to vote for or what policies to support, and faithful Christians can certainly disagree on these matters. At the same time, Jesus consistently advocates for the most vulnerable among us, which does provide an important framework and set of convictions from which to make these kinds of decisions. Along...

I grew up in small city in Pennsylvania and most of my friends went to church. I had only one classmate, as far as I can remember, that was Jewish. But while I learned from him some things about Hanukah – probably because it seemed “close” to Christmas – I never learned about Yom Kippur; in fact, I’m not sure I knew it existed. In college I had a lot more Jewish friends, so I knew that Yom Kippur was important to them, and I knew it meant “Day of Atonement,” but that’s about it. So if you’re anything like me, you might be helped by even these few paragraphs from a brief article on Yom Kippur from the Huffington Post: The...

Regarding prayer, I’ve said before that while I don’t understand prayer, I still do it. And I think that’s true of various elements of the faith, full understanding isn’t a requirement for participation. Whether it’s prayer, or the Lord’s Supper, or forgiveness, we are called to participate even as we still seek to understand better. I think these two things are connected and rest near the heart of the life of faith, in fact. First, that there is an element of irreducible mystery to our faith that doesn’t require full understanding to be embraced and, second, that we are still beckoned always to understand more fully. Embracing...