This past weekend marked the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. I so admire Giotto’s depiction (in Santa Croce in Florence) of Francis’s passing. I have a tendency to obsess over certain historical figures, none more so than Francis. Let me try... When I asked you all What would you like to think together about next?, one responder has always been puzzled by the Mary and Martha story in Luke 10:38-42. Jesus comes to the home of Martha. This by itself raises a host of questions, in a world where you’d speak of a... A required reading item when I was in seminary was H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture, which helpfully assesses the ways Christians have related to the culture around them through history, and today. For some, Christ is against culture. Others discern agreement... When I asked what people wanted me to talk about in this email space, several expressed fears for the country, and their exasperation over the way others think and feel. Our United Methodist Publishing House asked me to write a book on Religion and Politics. I said... When I asked what people wanted me to talk about, a handful said “Salvation.” What is salvation? Who will be saved? And how? Hugely important questions. Our best approach is to go back into Scripture and see what God would have us read and ponder. ... When I asked “What’s next?” or “What would you like for us to think about together?” I received several replies asking the question about Why bad things happen – that is, if there’s a good God. Sometimes this is an intellectual puzzle. More often, the question is a... In 11th grade, for a state science competition, I wrote a paper entitled “Exobiology,” looking at the question of Is there life somewhere out there in space? Science has advanced exponentially since 1971, and I was only an 11th grader, but I think I picqued my... One day on our first ever week-long biking tour, we came across a stunning field of sunflowers. Everyone in our group stopped to marvel, and to snap photos. A woman next to me, more in wonder than seeking information, asked “How do they plant all those sunflowers so... Last week I asked “What’s Next?” What arouses your curiosity, or what is confusing to you? Thank you for so many thoughtful replies! Send more! I’ll quote a few in the next couple of months and ramble a bit. One responder wrote to me: “A danger you and any religious... 