Yes, I'm a minister. No, I don't have a church.

I love Lent. I love the deep silences and the lack of easy answers. This may be part of my also loving any music in a minor key. It quiets my busy mind and me. But the practice of Lent annoys me, with people telling me on social media what they are giving up. There is no good reason for my dislike. I feel a tad less virtuous at every post reminding me that I might be a bad Christian, and I find it petty and aggravating when people post how much they miss chocolate or coffee during Lent. 40 days is nothing, honey. I know there are people in the world who will never have either. I used to give up something for Lent. I even briefly toyed with taking on a spiritual discipline. But I’m just not good at it. For the past several years, I have decided that I might just not even bother, since I’m only going to slip and then kick myself for over it. We (the publishing company where I work) published a Lenten study on forgiveness. I studiously avoided reading it for many months, even t...

You can catch previous editions here. First Edition: Caveats and Privilege Second Edition: Respecting People, Also Known As God's Creation This is a post about space. If you have been on a plane in the past five years, you know space is a premium. The smaller spaces available as airlines cram more seats into each plane require us to be a bit more, shall we say, self-aware. I have a few #protips to suggest. A caveat: Of course, I understand not everyone is my size. Some people literally take up more space. That’s cool. I think God made us in all sizes. But that doesn’t mean some of us get to monopolize all the space. Tips for flying: Put your smaller item under the seat in front of you, unless your height makes it really uncomfortable. Nothing throws me into a rage faster than a man (it’s always a man) who is 5’7” with no discernible disability who puts his slim briefcase FLAT in the overhead bin space. Or the man (it is often a man) who puts his coat into...