Can we answer the question, "Why, God?"

There's another good op-ed piece in the New York Times today entitled "Why, God?".  In it, a priest wrestles with the questions of suffering, why God allows bad things to happen, and what an appropriate response is.  Again, it doesn't answer all the questions, but offers a perspective based on compassion, faith, & life experience.

"One true thing is this: Faith is lived in family and community, and God is experienced in family and community. We need one another to be God’s presence."   

Story about a Christmas Prayer

I just read through a neat op-ed piece in the New York Times, by a woman who'd grown up in the Catholic church but had long since left it, but who nonetheless needed to say a prayer this Christmas.  It's a short but beautiful story of searching for a connection with God.  It certainly doesn't answer a lot of questions, and one wonders why she even wrote it, but it expresses a profound reality: "sometimes, out of nowhere, the spiritually confused can still come inside and kneel and feel their words might rise up and be heard."  

Gender issues in CT article

Yesterday, Christianity Today posted a great interview with Nicholas Kristof, an op-ed contributor to the NY Times and co-author of "Half the Sky", a book about injustice toward women & girls in many areas of the world.  Kristof is known as a fairly liberal, secular humanitarian, and yet his work on these issues has a lot of connection points with evangelicals.  The interview is really wonderful, and I encourage both of my blog readers to check it out!