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Commonsense Christianity

In our younger years, prior to children, the Norwegian Artist and I traveled through and lived in South America, where our most fervent hope was that we would be thought to be Canadians, Danes, Australians, or anything other than Americans, for two main reasons: 1) Because of our exported media products — movies and TV…

Years ago, when we still attended weekly church services, a longtime acquaintance (that’s generally what we are in church situations — we’re rarely given time to freely mingle and get to know one another as friends) left. If you attend church, you know how this goes: Bob and Allison aren’t there one week. Probably sick,…

Signs and wonders: they fascinate us. We marvel at the crossing of the Red Sea, Jesus’ feeding of 5,000 and 4,000, even Gideon with his soggy sheep fleece. One part of us asks, “Is this really true?” while another part says, “Do this for me, God! Do this for me!” And within contemporary Christian culture,…

Years ago, I spoke with a new mom about being lonely, and mentioned that I had experienced my share of that painful condition. “Oh, I’m not LONELY!” she shot back, as if we were discussing leprosy or something. You get the same reaction when you admit, “I would love to have a little more money, just to make things easier, you know.” “Oh,…

From the time we are schoolchildren, we are regularly assured, “You can be anything you want to be. Just dream it, and it will come true.” Do an Internet search on “following your dreams” and you’ll come up with everything from Dream Believe Achieve (or, Dream Believe Receive for the Christian version) to You Can Do…

Apostasy is nothing new in Christianity. Two thousand years ago Jesus warned that false prophets “come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7: 15) Given that we, the people of God, are frequently referred to as sheep, the term “sheep’s clothing” imparts the disquieting concept that these false prophets will inveigle their way into the…

Tough love. It’s an oxymoronic — or maybe just moronic — psychological phrase that has crept its way into Christian thought. We’ve been told it’s the solution to codependent relationships, another psychophrase bandied about more frequently than words like grace, mercy, charity, patience, or perseverance, and Christians instruct one another that when people make bad choices, well, they’ve got to live…

The Christian existence is filled with ludicrously shortsighted sayings that sound funny when we first hear them (too often, from the pulpit), but ultimately result in the weakening of our faith and approach to the throne of God. Like this one, which I politely tolerated long before there were Facebook memes: “Don’t pray for patience, because by…

I was in the big city, waiting to pick up air travelers who were three hours late starting a three-hour flight, and I had time in my hands. There’s only so long you can sit in Starbucks without a digital device, so I wandered into the bookstore. Twice. Eventually, after reading every knitting book on…

Life happens in grocery stores. I was in line yesterday with my loaf of English muffin bread when I overheard a deep, male voice rumbling behind me: “After this, I’m going home and getting my jammies on.” I sincerely admire the poise and self-confidence of any man who uses the word “jammies” in public. And…
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