LOWELL GRISHAM: Being a blessed nation
Columnist Lowell Grisham says Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan applies to governments just as it does to individuals.
Columnist Lowell Grisham says Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan applies to governments just as it does to individuals.
Columnist Lowell Grisham offers thoughts on an idea that common ground exists within the liberal or conservative tendencies we're born with.
Religious understanding will seriously impact one's interactions with others.
There is a conversation in church circles. Some Christians are asking other Christians, "How can you support Donald Trump?" Mr. Trump enjoys a high margin of p…
There is a story about Jesus that seems like a helpful metaphor for so much of what is going on today. One day Jesus left his home country and traveled into Ge…
Franciscan Sister Joan Brown writes of three foundational principles needed for harmony and wholeness. She describes the relational flow that functions everywh…
When I was in college, I thought everything you needed to know about me you could learn from the decals on my back window -- Ole Miss, Episcopal Church, Beta T…
Which paths do we choose? Supremacy or humility? Domination or service? Fear or love? Extremist violence in the world is often justified by religious messages …
My family came here as foreigners. Maybe yours did, too. First there was a brave Grisham, filled with hope. He risked everything to come to a strange land. He …
If I were given the opportunity to be face to face with Osama bin Laden, the first thing I would do is listen. I would try to understand why he had acted in th…
Our starting point is important.
The business of our state Legislature is to assess priorities and make decisions so that Arkansas can be the best state it can be. Our resources and programs a…
How do you judge what is right and good?
Here's a New Year's resolution that could make this year better than last year: Practice gratefulness.
Not all Christian denominations observe the four Sundays before Christmas as the season of Advent, but many do. Advent is a season of expectation, the expectat…
It's up to grown-ups to teach children right from wrong. Children learn from what we tell them, but they learn even more from watching our actions. If we want …
When I see pictures of refugees, like the group traveling through Central America right now, I always think of Joseph, Mary and Jesus on their journey to Egypt.
Some years ago I was called as the senior pastor to a church that had experienced multiple instances of clergy sexual misconduct. Whenever clergy violate their…
In the Bible, whenever autocratic or immoral leaders arise, God raises up prophets to speak truth to power. I find that comforting right now.
"One day in the Jerusalem Temple, Jesus' disciples watched as many rich people put large sums into the treasury. Jesus directed his disciples' attention to a p…
We may be going through one of those moments that will cause us lasting shame. Years from now we will look back and wonder, "What were they thinking?"
Sometimes it is healthy to review your fundamentals. Who am I? What are my core values? How does that relate to everything else?
The conflict between love and law is one of the major themes in the Christian New Testament. Most of the opposition Jesus faced came from well-meaning people d…
Pastors know the research. If a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful a mother might be, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. …
An impressive group of 19 American Christian leaders -- Protestant, Evangelical and Catholic; black and white -- shared a retreat together this past Ash Wednes…
For Christians, last week was Holy Week, the most important week of our year. During Holy Week we tell a story starting with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusa…
How much is my 6-year-old granddaughter's life worth? How much is my 39-year-old daughter's life worth? If Arkansas passes the constitutional amendment titled …
Last Wednesday we suffered the latest of the school shootings afflicting our country. Again we ask, "What will we do about it?"
Claudia is a 19-year-old Dean's List student at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. She's lived in Northwest Arkansas since before she was 2. She ran track …
In April 2012, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a series of letters to Congress criticizing the federal budget plan authored by a fellow Catholic, …
Here we are on the cusp of Christmas. We are near the end of Advent, the season of preparation. Now is the annual Christian remembrance of the coming of Jesus.
Our human relationships function within complex webs of power and dependency grounded in trust.
There are patterns in the development of human consciousness. We all start as infants, with primitive, self-centered needs for survival. Later we experience a …
Two of the most important words in the Hebrew Scriptures are mishpat and tzedakah.
One of the reasons Jesus was killed was because he broke the law. Jesus had a prophetic attitude toward the law, and it got him into arguments and into trouble.
Symbols are powerful. Symbols participate in the reality they represent. They carry some of the presence and energy of whatever they point toward. A soldier wi…
My friend Jonathan plans to return to the Apache reservation for the fourth time this fall to continue the Christian mission work he has been doing to help ove…
What do we owe one another in society? How do we structure our laws to promote freedom and justice for all? When Jesus was asked that question, he had a ready …
I had a birthday last week. It was a big one. This was the year when I got the best birthday card ever, my Medicare Health Insurance card.
How different might our culture be if we engaged our world as Jesus engaged his? Jesus challenged conventional thinking.
Jesus seemed to see God's presence everywhere.
Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist. She studies the brain and the nervous system. At the age of 37, she had a massive stroke. As the left hemisphere of her …
Some leaders brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in adultery, a capital crime (Deuteronomy 22:22-24; Leviticus 20:10). "In the law Moses commanded us …
Do you live in the house of fear or in the house of love?
I had hoped this week to write about my congregation's experience as hosts for a new refugee family.
In Arkansas the poor pay twice as much of their incomes in taxes as do the wealthy. When you factor in all state taxes, the bottom 60 percent pay 12 cents of e…
Christians have just celebrated Christmas Day, when we say God comes to humanity uniquely in the birth of the child Jesus. Christmas is also a season, the 12 d…
So many people have initiated conversations with me since the election. Pastors are listeners. A safe ear. Several have spoken about how traumatized they feel.
So many people live paycheck to paycheck. But what happens if there is a serious illness? Or a job loss? A spouse leaves or becomes abusive. If you don't have …
"Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."