On Being Reactors, Not Actors

In our lives in the world, the temptation is always to go where the world takes us, to drift with whatever current happens to be running strongest. When ...

St. Francis's Extreme Embrace of Poverty

Among his many virtues, [St. Francis of Assisi] is known for his passionate embrace of poverty. Not only did he forbid his emerging Order to own property, ...

Cynicism: Frostbite of the Soul

In his book Please Don't Squeeze the Christian, Scott Sernau reflects on the danger of cynicism—especially in the life of believers who claim ...

The Importance of Intentionality

Alan Kraft writes in “Good News for Those Trying Harder”:

Not long ago, I read that a person my age should drink 16 glasses of water a day. ...

How the Internet Creates a "Permanent Puberty of the Mind"

Before Shane Hipps became a Mennonite pastor, he was a former strategic planner in advertising. In both vocations, he has learned a great deal about how ...

"Wall•E": Unprepared to Go Home

In many ways the Pixar's animated film Wall•E is a story about coming home. It tells the story of a lonely robot who for 700 years has been cleaning ...

Creating Change from the Bottom Up

Two weeks after the [2008 presidential] election, I traveled to India to meet Christian pioneers seeking to overturn India's institutional form of ...

Resident Regrets Snap Judgment of Patient

Dr. Katrina Firlik was the first woman admitted into the neurosurgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Her recent book, Another ...

Lent: Cleaning Out the Hidden Corners of Our Hearts

In the daily round of life, dust and cobwebs accumulate in our souls. The hidden corners of our hearts become encrusted with grime or filled with forgotten ...

Lent: A Time to Stop Doing and Try Being

Maybe Lent is a good time to stop doing and try being. … Relinquishment lies at the heart of the Christian gospel and is a countercultural choice ...