I made a passing remark during a class about Karl Barth meeting with Billy Graham. My students were all over it. “Karl Barth met Billy Graham? You just blew my mind,” one student said. “I think I assumed they were from different planets or something,” said someone else. And then they all looked at me as though something had shifted. As though something about our lives would be better if Karl Barth and Billy Graham had hit it off. “Did they get along at all?” someone ventured. It’s interesting that we might assume they wouldn’t. Or maybe I should say indicative. Indicative of how polarized we have become in our thinking and outlook. Notably, the American media of the late 1950s and early 1960s seemed to begin with the assumption that there were important similarities between Barth and Graham, representing their differences in the context of what they had in common. In 1956, for example, Christianity Today reported: “Karl Barth and Billy Graham are both rescuing the Bible from … [Read more...]

The elderly woman waited her turn to speak with me after my talk. “It doesn’t really matter how you walk,” she said with conviction. “People walk all different ways.” And then she leaned in, finishing with extra emphasis. “Just don’t fall,” she advised. I had lectured in my hiking boots, not my low heels or flats. I apologized to the participants both for the boots and my limp, explaining that I had been having trouble “getting my walk back” due to a herniated disc. My anxiety about not being able to move as fluidly as usual was no doubt apparent. And this woman was determined to alleviate it. With just a few words, she reset both my perspective and my priorities. I had never really noticed that people do have all kinds of walks. And not falling is certainly a more critical goal than getting back into my speaking shoes! In “A Leg to Stand On,” neurologist Oliver Sacks tells of getting his walk back following a climbing accident. While the surgical repair of his injury was … [Read more...]

I just finished teaching a week-long class full of the most amazing people. Twenty-four students, all participants in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Southeast Asia Leadership Training Program, originated from 11 different countries: Burma, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Japan.  Every time I entered the classroom they were there and ready: all in their places with bright shining faces. I, for my part, tended to rush in a couple minutes late, a story on my lips about traffic, a parenting responsibility or a jammed printer that had stalled my photocopying. They would nod empathetically and hand me a fresh cup of coffee, smiling with anticipation, believing ahead of me (and nudging me along into that belief), that something wonderful was about to happen. And so I would offer the opening prayer, noticing that my praises and intercessions came from a more centered place than usual. The students’ very presence and confident faith … [Read more...]