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Effective pastors in times like these must feel adequately equipped for the complex and nuanced job of imparting peace, unity and intelligent civic participation to their congregations.

In Advent we long for the light, at Christmas we revel in it, and throughout Epiphany we see by it.

Being a mediocre parent, I pick my battles. Trying to model the values of faith and the covenant community is No. 1. Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation helped me identify No. 2: technology.

The rise of a generation that can’t or doesn’t read books matters for the church. After all, if people can’t or don’t read books, how will they read the Bible?

I realized we could only see this beauty, we could only comprehend this space, we could only receive the light, if we waited, and if we paid attention.

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If I’m busy preparing for the worst, I forfeit the present and the possibilities within it.

Early on in ministry I came out to my church as gay and committed to celibacy.

After encountering these stories, you might have closed your Bible and shaken your head, wondering why in the world God would put these stories in inspired Scripture.

I think this drive to understand could be one of the attributes of being created in the image of God.

Synod news; columns from Cross Examination, Big Questions, and Faith Matters; four features; and an As I Was Saying blog post were among the most-accessed articles on thebanner.org this year.

The Scripture readings at the end of the liturgical year are the biblical equivalent of dystopian science fiction.

In the small office I manage, I want employees to settle on certain computer apps to do their work (in this case, the messaging app Slack), but some are resisting. Should I lay down the law and require it?

I spied a mother and her two little boys pushing a loaded cart toward the exit.

I was relieved it was over. But still wondering what this result meant for me, our family, our faith, and our country.

In our divided world and divided church, we need media that break down divisions, not reinforce them.

While I was living in northern Alberta, one of my favorite places to go was the local beaver pond.

It’s the distance between orthodoxy and orthopraxy that currently concerns me most in our denomination.

Years ago, it seems like we spent a lot of time in church listening to sermons about or studying apologetics, but these days, not so much. Why?

I am an elderly Christian who can find himself in discussions about burial plans. When I share that my remains will be donated for medical research, some people react negatively. Please comment.

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But that’s not what the angels sang about. Nor did Jesus promise peace on earth for all men (or women).

The physical demands of running were intense, but I soon realized that the mental aspect was equally challenging.