FINDING GRATITUDE IN 2020
From George Washington to Donald Trump
Thanksgiving is especially challenging in 2020. The surging pandemic, bitter partisan and racial divides, and collective mourning for the 250,000 victims of Covid-19 have dampened moods and soured appetites. Large family feasts have been canceled or are preceding despite official warnings and significant risk. Yet gratitude is most resonant in…
Escaping our ideological bubbles
The 2020 presidential election proved that Americans have retreated into opposing echo chambers. Even a small farm stand in upstate New York advertises eggs, vegetables, flowers, and Bernie for president. Every aspect of our lives has become politicized. The conflicts have drifted from lawn to social media, to public school…
“You spoke your words as though you denied the very existence of the shadows or of evil. Think, now: where would your good be if there were no evil and what would the world look like without shadow? Shadows are thrown by people and things. There’s the shadow of my…
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. . . . It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government…
How Will God Vote Part VI
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8 KJV)
Jesus’ teaching in the Beatitudes disrupts our identities and partisan passions. What do mercy, meekness, and poverty of spirit have to do with crushing our political enemies? …
Even when our dreams turn into nightmares, they still contain the seeds of new beginnings.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. insisted that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” We can find inspiration from his life and teaching to endure through times of darkness and hopelessness. Yet his many disappointments and assassination remind us of the difficulty of the…
That the Pilgrims Signed their Lives Away.
November 11, 2020 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the Mayflower’s landing at Provincetown on Cape Cod. (The actual anniversary is November 21st in the Gregorian calendar) While newspapers, politicians, and historians debate the true origins of the United States. …
How Will God Vote? Part VIII
As we enter the final days of the 2020 election season, I want to end my series on the Beatitudes and the values of Jesus by adding a translation twist to a familiar passage. …
How will God Vote: Part VII
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9 KJV
Sometimes the shortest passages cause the most trouble. Do you want to be called a child of God? Practice peacemaking.
As Americans we are solely tempted to add qualifiers to the expression. …
The Fourth in a Series on Depolarizing Politics
Writing about depolarizing politics in the middle of the 2020 presidential election feels like bailing out the Titanic with a teaspoon. Or worse, I have become Don Quixote tilting at windmills in a war zone. …
