In early October, Chris Pratt, star of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, was promoting his Pixar film “Onward” and encouraging his fans on Instagram to vote for this year’s People’s Choice Awards. And because the awards happened to land during the contentious election, he joked, “With all that’s going on in the world, it is more important than ever that you vote. Just ask any celebrity. They will tell you…to vote. But me? I will…
According to psychologists, more than three in five Americans report feeling lonely, and that number has been rising. Zlatin Ivanov, MD, a New York-based psychiatrist, says that, even in the best of circumstances, “Social isolation in most cases would bring the negative effect of loneliness, anxiety, and sometimes depression.” And social distancing during the pandemic has created the perfect hothouse for nurturing lonely, depressed people. And now that we have reached the holidays, it might…
On Monday, November 2, a member of our church staff began having allergy-like symptoms. No worries. She had simple seasonal respiratory issues in the past. But on Tuesday, she was worse. On Wednesday, she was suffering. And on Thursday, she tested positive for Covid-19. Her end of this story is one of isolation, frustration, and sickness. After fever, aches, nausea, alarming respiratory distress, and two trips to the ER, she is on the mend. But…
This divisive, messy election is nearly over. Almost. Sort of. And it seems that all we have done lately is fight about our political alliances. How can we go on from here? Where can we get perspective? The same place we always do. From Jesus. People constantly asked Jesus questions. Questions about faith, about religion, and, yes, about politics. And for good reason. He could take the waffling faith of the doubter and give it…
Author and pastor John Piper published a blog on October 22 that has gained lots of attention, responses, and retorts. And the article has fostered a needed conversation among Christians about voting in this election. In the article, “Policies, Persons, and Paths to Ruin,” posted on the Desiring God website, Piper scathingly denounces Trump for his appalling character, not by name but without nuance, and he implies that voting for Trump cannot be justified just…
It seems nearly a foregone conclusion that Amy Coney Barrett will take a seat on the US Supreme Court. And she should. Even without reading her resume, anyone who pauses for an honest and unbiased glimpse of her interactions during her confirmation hearings was impressed with her brilliance, clarity, and expertise. If she isn’t qualified for the Supreme Court, who is? But no matter how qualified she is, her confirmation hearings were destined to dissolve…
During a recent interview, actor Clarke Peters recalled his first impressions of the late Chadwick Boseman when they worked together on the 2020 war movie Da 5 Bloods. Boseman’s fame had exploded after 2018’s Black Panther, and as Peters tells it, he thought Boseman was a “little bit precious” on the set of Bloods. Boseman, Peters said, was surrounded by people “fawning over him.” Boseman had a “Chinese practitioner massaging his back when he walked…
The 2000 film Gladiator follows the story of a fictional Roman general, Maximus (Russell Crowe), in the 2nd Century AD of the Roman Empire. He is betrayed by Emperor Commodus and catapulted into the life of a simple, but exceptional, gladiator. We follow his journey from defeat to fame, and along the way one scene bears a chilling resemblance to our current climate of entertainment. In one of the smaller arenas that will eventually take…
Remember where you were when you heard the news? I was sitting in my basement office at Bethel Baptist Church, a lovely country church on a crossroad in Westminster, SC. I was preparing for a funeral, pressed for time and not in the mood for much conversation, when someone banged on my door. I didn’t answer quickly enough, so the person knocked again, and without waiting opened the door. A local farmer stuck his head…
It was 1981, the start of the academic year, I was a sophomore, and I had just ascended to the exalted position of Editor-in-Chief of our college campus newspaper. I was smart enough to know that our bi-monthly publication wasn’t going to rock the world, but prideful enough to think it should. And I was also inexperienced enough to mistake passion for substance. That semester I wrote a column that taught me a lesson about…