Category

Essay

Essay

Let’s Not Meet in the Middle

Yesterday the Michigan state senate Majority Leader opened the floor session with a prayer. He prayed for the seeking of unity, for people to work together, for legislators to look to God when people "get off track."  After he said…
February 11, 2021
Essay

Early Grace

It would have been around 1950 -- most likely, as now, with snow on the ground -- that I wrote my letter to the Canadian government. I don’t know what one’s geographic loves say about the geography of one’s soul,…
February 10, 2021
Essay

Banana Republic

Have we settled on a name for the events of January 6 yet? “Capitol Riot” is what I hear most. To me, riot sounds too spontaneous, too haphazard, when increasingly it appears there was more than a little plotting and…
February 9, 2021
Essay

Looking Toward the new Reformed Journal

A friend asked what we’re looking for in the new Reformed Journal and I said “great writing.” There are a lot of other things I could say about the Christian faith or our particular Reformed worldview, but great writing stands…
February 8, 2021
Essay

Leaning Into Our Limits

I am tired these days. I keep seeing headlines about trauma and “covid fatigue” so maybe you are too. And herein lies the opportunity. American culture is saturated with the values of the industrial revolution and we prize efficiency in…
February 7, 2021
Essay

Jesus and the Disinherited Today

The antiracist reading group at my church has dedicated the month of February to Howard Thurman’s classic work Jesus and the Disinherited. We’ve spent the last six months exploring the history of racism in the United States by looking at…
February 6, 2021
Essay

Before I Got Here

It might have been here on The Twelve that somebody suggested it would be interesting to discover who owned my land before my land was mine. Some of that history is well documented in Michigan as part of the larger…
February 5, 2021
Essay

For the Restless

Because, I suppose, God would still have us call him good,he has shone the light of his countenance upon us(here in West Michigan, at least)and blessed us with sunshinethese first February days.In January the sun calmed, warmed, filled with hope.But…
February 4, 2021
Essay

The Ravine

“Ooh” she said, “That one’s my favorite!” She came over and I snapped a cell phone picture of her next to it. One needs to see a Van Gogh painting in person for full effect. More so, one should move…
February 3, 2021
Essay

Doormats, Serpents, and Doves

A recent article in the New York Times addressed the troubling rise of a militant form of Christian Nationalism and how prevalent—and visually obvious—this was at the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.  In the article the author quoted…
February 2, 2021