Every Sunday, in Anglican churches around the world, there comes a time in the liturgy when the deacon leads the congregation to pray for those in positions of authority. Here, in Fresno California, this prayer looks like something like this: Celebrant: We pray for Barak our president, Arnold our governor, Ashley our mayor, and for […]

In an alternate universe Glenn Beck (who looks a lot like Han Solo) and Jim Wallis (who looks a lot like Obi Wan Kenobi) sit down to have a civil discussion about social justice. The video below gives us the opportunity to listen in. *******

I have voraciously been feeding on Tim Keller’s sermons. Tim is the senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York, and his ability to express the depth of God’s grace, and its ability to form a new community of “peculiar people,” has been for me a potent blessing. Below I give a small excerpt from […]

I listen to NPR and I find it to be an overall evenhanded source of information about a variety of issues and events in American society. I have friends who would disagree. I chalk this difference up to the fact that my friends are situated a bit more right than I, and thus there is […]

Do we need to take this country back for God, or is this goal a distraction from the larger mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of Jesus? Are the two goals in conflict with one another or can they coincide? What is the relationship between God’s kingdom and the American socio-cultural landscape? Should we seek to […]

Last night I saw the America often expressed in its ideals, but too little seen in its landscape. First, there was the results of a campaign season that was itself historic. A black man has been elected to the highest office of the land, an act that goes along way toward moving America beyond the […]

I have read a couple of reports that said  John McCain has recieved Al Qaeda’s endorsement for president. These articles have hypothesized that Al Qaeda prefers McCain to Obama because they expect McCain to carry on Bush’s military strategy in Iraq, which gives Al Qaeda the continuing circumstances it needs to cash in on American […]

Are Americans suspicious of intellectuals? I watched a good part of the Biden/Palin debate, and thought I had a good sense of who came out on top, but the next day my sense was undermined when I was listening to various political commentators who presented the debate as a toss up, or worse, that Palin […]

I guess my blog is turning into a blog about the blogs I visit. The other day I visited Scot McKight’s “Jesus Creed” in which he wrote a post about Dobson’s critque of Obama’s speech regarding how to live out one’s faith in a pluralistic society. For those who don’t know, Dr. McKnight is a […]

A few days ago, while listening to NPR, I heard a report about a Turkish journalist, of Armenian descent, Hrant Dink, who was shot and killed just outside of the newspaper office at which he worked. Ever since moving to Fresno, in my early twenties, I have become increasingly aware of the Armenian people: their […]