For both theological and practical reasons, December is a time when many people do a great deal of their charitable giving. Theologically, as we gather for Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice, we celebrate God’s work in our lives by giving each other gifts. We celebrate God’s great gifts to us by practicing generosity to God’s […]

Halloween was not over before I began receiving advertisements for “Black Friday” sales. They arrived daily – in email, social media feeds, and pop-up ads on web pages. Seemingly everyone was trying to get an early start on the biggest shopping day of the year. For some time, our “marketing-industrial” complex has placed a growing […]

It is a great joy to join the Shalem staff as your new Director of Development and Communications! As some of you already know, I took my first class in contemplative prayer from Tilden Edwards forty years ago, after graduating college and preparing to enter seminary. Tilden’s teaching and writing shaped much of my experience […]