Michelle Van Loon

I’ve spent a lot of time in the last two years thinking about…time. Though I’ve focused on Jewish and Christian calendars during the writing of Moments & Days: How Our Holy Celebrations Shape Our Faith, I also did some reading on…

Being the new girl in 8th grade was like walking over hot coals every day. All the other kids were a part of established cliques. Hormones and insecurity are a double rip tide that pulls under all but the strongest and most…

Does it seems as though civil discourse is on the endangered species list? When discussion is reduced to talking heads yelling at one another on cable news channels, posting inflammatory commentary on Facebook, or calling each other snarky names on Twitter, where…

In the wake a week where Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Brent Thompson, and Patrick Zamarripa lost their lives, I appreciated post after post on social media again calling for whites to silence themselves and…

Earlier this year, I launched in this space an occasional series looking back on the unintended consequences of the Jesus Movement. I’ve explored topics including our hand-clappin’ praise songs, the Rapture, our voting habits, and our worship services. Today, I’m…

The week began with headlines remembering the courageous life and work of Elie Wiesel. But those headlines were replaced almost instantly with shaky cell phone images that have rightly scorched the emotions of most everyone I know. Those images, along…