Commentary
Using An Old Custom To Lure New Parishioners
For the last half century, membership numbers in Mainline U.S. Protestant churches have gone mostly in one direction — down. Protestants once constituted a large majority of the American population. And Mainline churches — the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, the Christian…
Let’s Put a Priority on Doing Good Work
Society does a real number on us regarding what the “important” professions are in the world. As with many beliefs we are indoctrinated with, they’re not always true. That’s why when I look at the budget threat to the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s theater department, including the potential cut of four more faculty members, I…
A Community Rebounds, Copes After Targeted Murders
Since that bloody Sunday in April 2014, when a neo-Nazi targeted Kansas City’s Jewish community, this area’s 18,000 Jews have been adjusting to the reality that evil forces still want them dead. The three people he murdered — two at the Jewish Community Center, one at nearby Village Shalom — turned out to be Christians,…
Protecting the Playwright Preserves Our Truth
Edward Albee and Shonda Rhimes. Funny how the twain can meet. The other night, a tornado watch interrupted the season finale of the TV show “Scandal.” That lead to a protracted ripple of conversation among my friends regarding the intense monologue by a character in that episode on the state of being a black woman…
It’s Time to Rebrand the Block
Not to get remotely biblical, but for me, it all started with a rib bone. OK, there was more than one rib — a couple of side dishes might have been involved, too. That’s how I discovered my new favorite block near downtown Kansas City, Kansas: Fifth and Central Avenue in Wyandotte County. Before the…