I’ve been thinking about forgiveness lately, and wondering if it’s a little bit like hope, which we discussed on this blog back in December. In December we discussed whether we could truly understand hope without knowing hopelessness. Similarly, forgiveness is a complex and difficult concept that cannot be understood without a betrayal, a hurt, a wrongdoing that creates a need for forgiveness.[...]

In February, Huffington Post featured an article by Scott Dannemiller on the way Christians use the word blessed, and it resonated with us. Check it out and see if you agree or disagree. If you disagree, why? If you agree, how can we do a better job of communicating with our teens [...]

In Christianese, we use the language of redemption to describe a variety of situations. But often we misuse this term, questioning God’s “redemptive power” when we expect God to fix our problems and nothing changes. Perhaps we invoke the language of redemption without understanding what redemption really is.[...]