At first you think this is a video about an amazing teacher, Jeffrey Wright, who is willing to do just about anything to engage his students in learning — learning about physics, about themselves, about each other and the world. Then you think it’s really about the power of vulnerability, of self-disclosure, as Mr. Wright shares with them some of his personal life and in this way creates an atmosphere of profound trust where transformative learning can take place. And then you realize it’s really all about love. In the face of the incredible challenges that Jeffrey and his son and family face, there are a few choices they could...

A couple of weeks ago I shared our first experiment at inviting everyday Christians to talk about the Bible, trusting that as we all interact with Scripture by noticing details, asking questions, sharing insights and the rest, we’ll learn a lot – not just about the Bible, but also about ourselves, each other, and what God has in mind for us today. We called this little exercise the Bible Story Jam because, well, it seemed like a cool title. 🙂 Even more, though, we want to spread the idea that talking about the Bible with each other, exploring how these stories might shape our daily lives, can be, quite honestly, a lot of fun. So there...

I often find myself stuck between two extremes in our religious culture. Either 1) take the Bible literally and thereby ignore much of what modern disciples – whether science or history or others – have taught us about the way the world works. Or 2) dismiss the Bible entirely because it doesn’t always conform to what we’ve learned about the world and thereby ignore the wisdom of our faith. I don’t think I’m alone feeling this bind. I think, in fact, that lots of faithful Christians want an alternative to the false dichotomy of faith or reason, head or heart, fundamentalist Christianity or outright atheism. Much of our dilemma...