God can bring new life – something creative – even out of the ashes of our worst nightmares.

At the risk of sounding like an old man yelling at the clouds, I believe that much of the polarization we face is artificially amplified and systematically promoted in our digital interactions, unlike the authentic experiences of embodied life as American Baptists.

No matter which recipe one uses — the Trumpian version with Hegseth baptizing the military or the more polite tone in the Capitol — the National Prayer Breakfast is at its foundation a problematic effort to fuse and confuse American and Christian identities.

Few children’s books have left the impression on me that Kelly Barnhill’s “The Ogress and the Orphans” has. It is a book that gives me hope during this difficult time in our country; hope that we can be the heroes that we need.

Receiving a compliment is one of those small mercies of life that almost goes unnoticed to the world, but not to the receiver.