Haunted by St. Francis

It was nearly a half of a year ago when my cousin reminded me of the “Prayer of St. Francis.” Lately, I have been reading it over nearly every day. A monk from the thirteenth century penned something so counter intuitive, so aspirational, so challenging, that I wonder if I… Continue reading

Christianity in 100 Words

Saw this somewhere and decided to take the challenge. Jesus. Christianity is based on Jesus, not a church or a prescribed set of beliefs. Love. Christianity is based on love, loving God, loving others (especially those we do not understand), and loving ourselves (in a healthy, non-arrogant sort of way,… Continue reading

An Irreligious Faith

Interested in Jesus, but not the church? Used to go, but not anymore? Find the whole church scene irrelevant?  You may be one of the 38 million individuals who stopped attending church in the last decade in The U.S. With honesty and a wry wit, Glenn Hager tells his story… Continue reading

Was Jesus Religious?

Here is my most recent column in The Kenosha News. Don’t talk about religion or politics. People tend to have strong opinions about these matters, and they really don’t want to re-examine what they believe. Their minds are made up. Today, I am ignoring that sage advice to write about… Continue reading

Who Are You Trying to Influence?

 Image: marcia furman, Creative Commons Jesus could and did draw a crowd, until his teaching became more cryptic; then people started scratching their heads and staying home the next day. It was as though he deliberately thinned the crowd, sending away the religious moths that always flew to the brightest light. He… Continue reading

Keeping It Real… and Interesting

Photo by NYCArthur I wish I could spin a yarn like Garrison Keillor, but, alas, I am a concept guy, not a detail guy. Popular author, Donald Miller, recently tweeted, “A good story is more powerful than an army.” Keillor has been spinning his meandering yarns about Lake Wobegon for… Continue reading

Party!

I cannot help but see the stark contrast between Jesus and present day Christianity. It is almost as if they are two different faiths… one separated, cloistered its own subculture; the other, on the streets, in the slums, and the suburbs, alike. One, trying to be holy through self-improvement and dissociation,… Continue reading

Jesus & Christianity: Different Agendas

Contrasts: We have sacred creeds, sacred places of worship, sacred objects, and sacred leaders or clergy. Jesus had none of it. We are part of a subculture that insulates us from real life. Jesus talked about a different way of living real life. We obsess over trying to be better… Continue reading

Break the Rules

A cursory of the Gospels would lead you to believe that Jesus was doing everything he could think of to agitate the religious establishment of his day. He wasn’t the ultimate hippie or some sort of crazed rebel; he, of course, knew exactly what he was doing. He was defying man-made religious rules that… Continue reading