Jimmy Eat World’s 555 and the Lament Tradition of Prayer

By Thomas M. Fuerst As a white United Methodist pastor living in the American South, I have grieved for two years as Covid-19 has run through my city, my region, my nation, and our world. Fortunately, I pastor a congregation that largely takes masks and vaccines seriously, but I lament that I live in an…

IT’S A SIN and the Church’s Response to Shame and Suffering

By Rev. Christopher West “He lies there all day, dying of shame.” So runs one of the most startling lines in Russell T. Davies’ latest television drama, It’s a Sin. The series is based on his own experiences and losses, and it follows three eighteen-year-olds – Ritchie, Roscoe, and Colin – as they move to London…

Is God Funny?

By Alison Downie, PhD Is God preposterous to you? He is to me. But let me explain: The God I work daily to trust bears no resemblance whatsoever to the “God” many Christians preach about and the “God” so many reject as absurd. The endlessly essential theological question is: What sort of God is being…