Hospitality and Healing Cherie Harder Thursday, March 30, 2017 It is a strange irony: at the most globally connected moment in all of human history, we are lonelier than ever. Even as our social media connections grow, so do our rates of living alone, and our reported feelings of loneliness and estrangement. A survey
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Grinches, Gifts, and Grace Cherie Harder Friday, December 6, 2016 As if Economics was not already considered “the dismal science,” a vocal number of economists have taken to questioning the value of gift-giving, even labeling it a “market failure.” By the laws of economics alone, the Grinches have a point: giving a gift is
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Hope and Change? Cherie Harder Friday, November 11, 2016 It has been a wild election. The majority of our deeply divided fellow citizens, many of whom are clearly hurting or angry (or both), fed up with gridlock in Washington, and eager for change, chose a new president, in what has seemed a joyless and bitter
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The Weight of Words Cherie Harder Friday, September 23, 2016 It is uncanny how much attention is paid in the Bible to the weight and power of words. It is a recurrent theme, beginning in Genesis with God speaking the world into existence, and culminating with the good news that the Word himself became
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For Such a Time As This Byron Smith Wednesday, July 13, 2016 We are pleased to provide a special guest reflection by Trinity Forum Trustee Byron Smith. "Shocked… Confused… Dismayed… Angry! " The sense of frustration many of us feel as we observe what is happening in our country can be disorienting. The demoralizing
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Faith Reminds Us of the Limits of Politics Cherie Harder Thursday, June 9, 2016 Editors' Note: This article first appeared in Patheos online and is part of the Patheos Public Square on Faith and the Election. You can find the article here. Faith inevitably shapes politics. It cannot be otherwise, as faith speaks to
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Valuing Vocabulary Cherie Harder Friday, May 20, 2016 "Political chaos is connected with the decay of language... one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end." —George Orwell. The institution of “Newspeak”—a flattening of language to collapse moral, aesthetic, and analytical distinctions, and reduce the sublime, beautiful, brave, kind,
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Noise, Hell & Healing Cherie Harder Wednesday, March 2, 2016 There is a certain appropriateness to Super Tuesday falling mid-way through the Lenten season – an illustration of the attention-grabbing demands and distractions of the world around us in a time traditionally dedicated to spiritual reflection. If Lent encourages silence and solitude, presidential campaigns
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A Shocking Lack of Solitude Cherie Harder Wednesday, January 21, 2015 "All of man’s troubles stem from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone." -- Pascal It is a truth long acknowledged that it is not good for man to be alone. But new research suggests that our aversion to solitude
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Reading, Reflection, and Redemption Randy Robertson Thursday, May 29, 2014 Dilemma: A Forum For Transformation in Prison Here in the Tomoka maximum security prison outside Daytona Beach, roaring car engines from the distant superspeedway call out to the inmates inside during race weeks. The sound of swaying palm fronds past the razor wire can
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