Lucky
We live in the tension of God’s sovereignty and terrible things happening. We live in the mystery of God’s unfolding plan for creation’s salvation and the harsh and horrible realities of human experience.
Jimmy Carter’s Lonely Pilgrimage and Lasting Legacy
It was Carter’s election as President which made “evangelical” and “born again” public terms rather than the private vocabulary of a minority religious community. Ken Woodward, Religion Editor at Newsweek magazine, and a friend from my time at Sojourners, did a cover story titled “The Evangelicals” to introduce this community to the reading public. The President had called himself an evangelical, and most had little idea what this meant.
Finding the Heart of COP29
Baku is a city of 2.5 million people, halfway around the world from my home in Michigan. What would my knowledge of tree names in the Midwest bring to this global gathering of professional negotiators from 198 countries? What did I know about global politics, or the formalities of United Nations policy making? What’s more, this COP was being called “the finance COP,” another issue that doesn’t often make its way into the woods, and which I therefore know very…
Present in Every Season
Most days I walk the loop through the cemetery of the First Reformed Church in Pompton Plains, N.J., where my wife Stacey is the Co-Pastor. I read the headstones, which tell a variety of stories. The oldest headstones, dating to the 1700’s when the church was founded, are no longer legible. The beginning of the loop, which is predominately 19th century and replete with many Dutch names, eventually gives way to a more inclusive community. The varied names make me…
Paul McCartney and Me
Aging and retirement are distinct concepts, of course, but they frequently intersect. For clarity’s sake, let’s agree that aging is a natural biological process that occurs over time, involving physical, cognitive, and social changes. It’s a universal experience that affects everyone. McCartney and I are both aging, whether we like it or not. And we are both old, according to actuarial tables.
Latest from the Blog
Daily blog by our regular bloggers & guest contributors.
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Chesterton, Wonder & Making Christianity Weird AgainChesterton loved Christmas, returning in his essays, poems, and books to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, again and again.
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Not a Game of “Gotcha”This was not a conversation in which Jesus is trying to trick someone into confessing or to come out on top or to shame someone.
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Now, More Than EverI’m only just now taking down my Christmas decorations (and full disclosure: the tree is still left). I’ve come to...
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Venn Diagrams, Tangents, and the ChurchI don’t remember enough geometry to know if Venn diagrams and tangents are connected in any formal way.
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Holy, Sacred MomentsA year after the publication of my book, I am aware of things I wish I’d said better. I don’t feel bad about that; I appreciate that I’m learning. And I appreciate my book, not because it’s some great work of literature, but because it has opened up meaningful conversations
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Going to Church with JimmyAs a pastor, this presidential situation affects my work more than you might imagine.
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Amish for the Win!Deep in the heart of U.S. evangelicalism is the belief that if we did a better job at apologetics, a better job of showing that our way was superior, people would follow Jesus. But this is not how it works.
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Once and Future PresidentsThe contrast this week has been striking. The solemn ceremonies and tearful farewells for ex-President Jimmy Carter over against the threats, bombast, and bloviations from President-elect Donald Trump.
Reviews
Poetry
Latest Podcasts
“Jesus Son of Gop” by Sarah M. Wells
In this episode of the poetry edition of the Reformed Journal Podcast, Rose Postma talks with Sarah M. Wells about her poem “Jesus Son of GOP.” is the author of The Family Bible Devotional Volumes 1 and 2, a memoir, American Honey: A Field Guide to Resisting Temptation (forthcoming), and two collections of poems, Between the Heron and the Moss and Pruning Burning Bushes. Poems and essays by Wells have appeared in Ascent, Brevity, Full Grown People, Hippocampus Review, The Pinch, River Teeth, Rock & Sling, Under the Gum Tree, Terrain.org and elsewhere. Sarah’s work has been honored with four Pushcart…
“Near Death” by Zoie Jones
In this episode of the poetry edition of the Reformed Journal Podcast, Rose Postma talks with Zoie Jones about her poem “Near Death.” Jones lives in the greater Los Angeles area where is pursuing a degree in English Literature. Her fiction has been published in Does it Have Pockets? and is forthcoming in Vestal Review. You can read this poem at Reformed Journal.
“Make A Joyful Noise” by Abigail Carroll
In this episode of the poetry edition of the Reformed Journal Podcast, Rose Postma talks with Abigail Carroll about her poem “Make A Joyful Noise.” Carroll is author of three poetry collections: Cup My Days like Water, Habitation of Wonder, and A Gathering of Larks: Letters to Saint Francis from a Modern-Day Pilgrim. Her poems have been anthologized in How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope as well as in Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and…
“November Cold” by Dave Warners
In this episode of the poetry edition of the Reformed Journal, Rose Postma interviews Dave Warners about his poem “November Cold.” Beginning in 1997, Warners has been teaching Botany and Ecology at Calvin University. Since 2009 he has directed Plaster Creek Stewards (PCS), a faith-based watershed initiative based at Calvin. Dave also teaches at Au Sable Institute in Northern Michigan and with the Creation Care Studies Program in New Zealand and Belize. In 2019 Dave and colleague Matthew Heun published…
“5th Commandment” by James Ryan Lee
In this episode of the poetry edition of the Reformed Journal Podcast, Rose Postma interviews James Ryan Lee about his poem “5th commandment.” Lee received an M.F.A. from the University of California, Irvine, where he studied under poets James McMichael, and Michael Ryan. His poems have appeared in Aethlon, The Minnesota Review, Juked, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Ordained Servant and Christianity and Literature. Duke University Press republished a section of his poem, “Bee Suit: Spring Chores with Grandfather,” for National…
“The Writer” by Olga Dugan
In this episode of the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Olga Dugan about her poem “The Writer.” Olga Dugan is a Cave Canem poet. Nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, her award-winning poems appear in many literary journals and anthologies including Ekstasis, Spirit Fire Review, Relief: A Journal of Art and Faith, The Windhover, Agape Review, ONE ART, Litmosphere (forthcoming), The Write Launch, Ariel Chart, The Sunlight Press, Emerge, Kweli, Sky Island Journal, evolution: The Red Moon…