Can Love Cast Out Fear?
Last week in this space, I suggested that most of us Americans—conservative and liberal, coastal and middle America, urban and rural—share a weird type of common ground: fear. We fear the white-hot public square, in [...]
The Weirdest Common Ground Ever
Many people are bemoaning America’s vicious public square. Few are discussing the weird common ground that most of us share—and what might be the best way to address it. Two recent conversations brought this into [...]
Singing the Lord’s Song to the “Other Side”
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song on alien soil?” —Psalm 137:4 This haunting question—asked by the psalmist after the people of Israel had been swept into captivity, hundreds of miles from home—formed the theme [...]
Of Dreamers, Realists, and Dialogue
A few years ago, my wife and I had the privilege of visiting a monastery in South Africa. Like many monasteries, Mariya uMama weThemba observed the Great Silence from roughly 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. [...]
Dialogue by Being There
Can you start a dialogue just by showing up? Miki Kashtan’s friend did. At a conference on reconciliation, this friend realized with despair that there was no exploration of gay issues on the agenda. On [...]
Intolerant? Me?
Let’s try some word association. I’ll give you three words, and you say the first word that comes to mind. Here we go: Intolerant. Rigid. Confrontational. Did you read these words and instantly think fundamentalist, [...]