Echoes and Moments

on Formation tour, 2016. I have a mildly embarrassing custom of talking in-depth with a friend about various cultural, socio-political, and theological topics over the worst food that our society has to offer: greasy fast food. This past week was more defendable than most, considering our chosen location for conversation, WingStop, prides itself on cooking everything fresh. But the amount of salt, fat, and grease that I consumed that night (and that found its way quickly through my defenseless digestive tract) was more than enough to make me think twice about my life choices. During this conversation, as I munched on a deep-fried chicken wing coated in lemon-juice glaze and pepper, my friend paused, looked intently into my eyes, and offered me a question with great severity: "Karl, I know you have thoughts on this. I just wanna know...why the hell should I care about Beyoncé and her twin babies?...because I just don't care!" I slid the last strip of meat from t...

Vigil for Orlando shooting, June 13, 2016. It has been difficult to add words to what has already been said about the last few weeks. Surely, the silence of the Christian community regarding the tragedy in Orlando a few weeks ago has been painful for many of my LGBTQ friends. Each time gun violence claims another brother or sister of mine I, too, break down and retreat into the catatonia of survivor's guilt. Orlando's gay community is still shell shocked by this event, but the ripples will extend outward for many more, much longer into our shared consciousness. The thing is, my response didn't surprise me. I shut down and retreated because I had seen this before and, as the actions of our legislature show me, I have no reason to believe that this won't happen again. Sure, satirical periodicals may post their repeats of the same story over and again, but it does little now to assuage the pain that seeps from the open wounds of our nation's psyche. Is this cy...

It hasn't been a good week for evangelical Christianity in terms of media attention. Instead of continuing a long discourse on these topics that will no doubt add to the bewildering amount of chatter surrounding Phil Robertson's controversial statements , I'd like to draw attention to one post from an artist I admire. Her name is Audrey Assad, and you might recognize her modestly beautiful voice singing alongside such fellow CCM giants as Chris Tomlin and Matt Maher. She summarizes her perspective with clarity and draws an important distinction between herself and the voices coming to the aid of Robertson's vitriol:   I want to uphold the dignity of each human life—and as a part of that commitment, I strive to resist the tendency to reduce people to their sexual drives, homosexual or heterosexual or otherwise. Phil Robertson’s perspective on the morals of homosexual marriage may overlap with mine, but I do not arrive at my conclusions about that, or my beliefs abo...