As Christians we are to “seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8), but the intoxicating allure of instant judgment can sweep us into an upsetting fit that results in ill-informed witnesses to God’s justice.

What might the world be like if each of us made an effort to be swift to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger and respect the rights of others to think what they think? The call is not to agree with others necessarily or to believe what others believe but simply to learn about or from the other, understand the other, value the other and respect the other.

Rather than dividing into two camps along a theological fault line of conservative and liberal or personal and communitarian, evangelicals are called to straddle the two, bringing the complete good news that Jesus came to save us not only from our sinful condition, but to bring heaven’s shalom to a broken world.

I work with immigrants and refugees in both ministry and advocacy. When I care about what an immigrant family is going through in relation to their legal status or immigration situation, I have found that the door for prayer, encouragement, scripture and the gospel often opens wide.

Jesus liberates the repentant believer from shame, guilt and despair related to sexual sin and invites them to “go, and sin no more (Jn. 8:11).

As a writer and artist, I have always been an amateur cultural anthropologist of sorts – observing how people live and relate in each of these nuanced expressions of American culture. It has been interesting to behold moments of beauty, bleakness, and banality in each culture.