The Journal
Reflections on Faith, Grief, History, and the Sacred in Ordinary Life
Every reflection begins with a question.
Sometimes that question comes from Scripture.
Sometimes from grief.
Sometimes from history.
Sometimes from the ordinary moments of everyday life.
These reflections are offered in the hope that together we may discover God’s presence, deepen our faith, and learn from those who have gone before us.
Welcome. I’m glad you’re here.
Latest Reflections
Recent essays on faith, grief, history, and discovering the sacred in ordinary life.
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America, America, God Mend Thine Every Flaw
We stand on a threshold between those who entrusted this nation to us and those who will one day receive it from our hands. The question before us is not simply what kind of nation we have inherited. The deeper question is what kind of ancestors we are willing to become.
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Beyond Separation: Church, State, and the Christian Vocation
What if the debate over church and state is older—and richer—than our modern political arguments suggest? Before we settle into today’s slogans, perhaps we should return to eighteenth-century New England, where faithful Christians wrestled with conscience, covenant, liberty, and the Gospel itself. The questions they asked may be exactly the questions we still need to…
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The God Who Stops the Knife
What if Genesis 22 isn’t ultimately about Abraham’s sacrifice… What if it’s about the God who stops the knife? God’s first response to our brokenness was not condemnation. It was presence.
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Covenant: From Noah to the Republic — The Biblical Foundation of a People Bound Together Before God
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, I thought it might be worth reflecting not only on the events that shaped the nation’s birth but also on the ideas, convictions, and theological traditions that influenced those who lived through them. The American Revolution was not formed solely in government…
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Father’s Day: The Gifts We Receive, The Love We Give, and the Fathers We Remember
Behind every Father’s Day celebration is a story. A story of love received, love given, love lost, and sometimes love we wished we had known. Today we remember that every family carries both joy and brokenness, and God meets us in both.
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Hope, Grace, and the Founding of a Nation
Our ancestors in faith believed that God had created a moral universe in which actions had consequences and justice mattered. This created a framework in which tyranny was not merely a political problem; it was a moral and spiritual violation.
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Touched by Grace: Called, Seen, and Made Whole
Grace always sees possibilities where others see failures. And perhaps that is something many of us need to hear.
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Pride in the Image of God: Celebrating the Holy Diversity of Creation
Pride Month invites us to celebrate the sacred truth that every human being possesses inherent dignity. It reminds us that diversity is not something to tolerate. It is something to celebrate. Not because diversity itself saves us. Christ saves us. But because diversity reveals something beautiful about the God who created us.
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Bread, Wine, and the Streets: Why the Sacramental Life Must Shape Our Protest
But if our protest is not rooted deeply in prayer and grounded in the sacramental life of the Church, it risks becoming just another form of noise in an already angry and fractured world.