Surely there is some person in York County whose voice is a nuisance to you.

York County has not always been the easiest place to love. Our family’s move to York in 2004 from Raleigh, North Carolina was a bit of a culture shock.

The public does not often get to hear the stories of men and women serving as ministers, exemplars of the Christian faith, who make their communities better.

I am not talking about spotless saints, but humble leaders faithfully living out their calling to serve their communities with God’s help.

Like most other US cities, York has complex challenges. Fixing York will require more than just talk. Another branding campaign will not solve the crisis. Public statements, banners, and flowery flourishes on our websites will not affect the kind of change we need.

Each of us needs schools to teach, hospitals to heal, police to protect and serve, government to order civic life, and places of worship to lift our hearts to a higher purpose.

A 2001 Gallup survey reported that 25% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans believed that crime had gone up in their neighborhood over the last year. 20 years later, in 2022, those numbers have shot up to 42% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans reporting they are more fearful of crime.

One thing we learn from the farmer is that today’s fruit tells us about yesterday’s seed. What kind of seed have we been sowing in the fields called family and community?

Easter Sunday is still the ultimate reset for the followers of Jesus. Just as the Church was awakened to a bright new reality 2,000 years ago, so too, the modern Church needs to embrace again the life-giving power of the resurrection of Jesus.

There are six ways the Church can hit reset on Easter Sunday and chart a new trajectory for generations to come. This Easter in the year 2023, the Church should affirm the following pledges:

2022 is going out with a bang in the Anderson household, or rather, with a thud and a crack! My sweet, 16-year-old daughter, Amelia, took a hard spill at the rollerskating rink that fractured her left wrist.

I had intended on writing a reflection piece about 2022. I never realized that a 10-hour stint in the ER would provide inspiration.

Go ahead and cancel me for maintaining these friendships with my neighbors. These are people God has called me to love without exceptions or excuses.

Sorry. I'm not canceling my neighbor.

As a parent of six children though, I am moderately annoyed by the suggestion that parents should just butt out when it comes to their kid’s education.

While parents may not control what is taught in school, they at least deserve to have clarity about a school’s goals, beliefs, and methods.

Violent crime is up by 5.6% overall but homicides are up by over 22% according to my simple calculation.

I have proposed recently that the American public is becoming unhinged in ways I have not witnessed before.

The world as we have known it for the last 18 months has been a challenge in which to find a rhythm. Our old ways of doing things have been flipped upside down.

Work, school, and church life were moved to different rhythms.

As leaders in our community, we were keenly aware that our city was on the brink of potential riots if even one police interaction went wrong.

Our little city of York, PA, has a history of violent riots dating to 1969. That year was violent and deadly as a young Black woman, Lillie Belle Allen, was shot by white men as she drove with her family. A white police officer, Henry Schaad, was killed in an armored truck by a Black sniper that same year.

York was boiling over with antagonism and rage, much like most of America in 2021.

There are likely good reasons why a departure may be justified. Before you say “I Quit,” perhaps you should ponder if you may need a season to renew your strength.

We should all be deeply concerned about the fracturing of our nation. The snag in the fabric has torn all the way into local communities and houses of worship. The tear does not show any signs of slowing. 

An obnoxious donkey is blocking your way on the path to success. That beast of burden brays and bucks and you just can’t get the stubborn beast to move.

The only thing that stands between you and your goal is that obstinate donkey.

Before you go kicking and beating the donkey to move it out of your way, you better take the time to discern why the donkey is blocking your way.

People who possess eternal life are not afraid to risk what they can’t lose. The question we should ask is not the teacher’s “who is my neighbor?” but the more expansive “to whom should I become a neighbor?”

How can we dismantle the distrust of this emerging tribalism? We are on the crazy cycle of distrust and defense. Your tribe attacks mine, we answer tit-for-tat. Your tribe becomes more defensive and even violent, mine reciprocates.

Jesus said, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:28, NIV).

We need not be naive about the pursuit of truth. Civil dialogue can lead us to better understanding, empathy, and even compromise, but there will inevitably be disagreements. We should not be frightened by the prospect of disagreement, but welcome it as one of the gifts of a free society.