I often wonder how often the church’s proclamations really make it into the public consciousness. Our denomination’s 227th General Assembly begins in late June; as commissioners debate various proclamations, I hope they will consider whether the statements will mostly annoy other Presbyterians who disagree, or if the declarations will actually help the world look more the way God wants. Perhaps we should look to Pope Leo for a model. According to Google, his recent statement on Artificial...

Toxic polarization is one of the defining traits of American culture in the 21st century. After the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondence Dinner last month, voices were divided. Some on my social media feed shared theories about why the whole event must have been staged; others shared perspectives that the new White House ballroom will prevent such attempts in the future. These posts were more prominent than those who simply decried the specific act of potential violence...

Back in 2015, I wrote a devotional book called Crossbound exploring several passages from the Gospel of Luke that detail all that Jesus undertook to show his love for us during that original Holy Week. For this month’s column, which will arrive during Holy Week, I thought it might be helpful to share a couple of passages from the final chapter, entitled “Celebrating Holy Week.” “Christians celebrate Holy Week and all of the different days that it comprises: Palm Sunday, when Jesus...