In today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus commissions the twelve and sends them out as sheep among wolves. That image is not sentimental. Sheep are not predators. They do not dominate. They do not devour. They are vulnerable, watchful, dependent on the Shepherd. Wolves move by instinct, by hunger, by force. Jesus does not send wolves to defeat wolves. He sends shee...

The world is made up of sheep and goats—or maybe I should say sheep vs. goats. There will come a time, Jesus says, when the Son of Man in his glory sits on a throne and divides the people into sheep and goats, one or the other. The heavenly King will decide. (And remember it’s a story. Jesus is telling another story.) Sheep and goats, really? It seems monstrous, if not unfair...

There is a strange kind of spiritual blindness that affects the successful. When a movement grows large enough, wealthy enough, and culturally impactful enough, it becomes almost impossible for that movement to see itself clearly. The American church today suffers from exactly this problem. We have built huge institutions, filled massive auditoriums, and gained cultural and p...

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Here are a few highlights from our event at The Riverside Church this past weekend, on the anniversary of Dr. King’s historic speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” We had 27 faith leaders read portions of King’s original speech, including his daughter, Rev. Dr. Bernice King. I’ll also highlight a few of King’s quotes from the speech below (along with who read the...