The religious aspects of 1968 are not quite as legendary as other events and trends of that year, but they are extraordinarily significant. What can re-examining them teach us about today?

“It may seem counterintuitive, if not downright implausible, that voting Democrat or Republican could change something as personal as our relationship with God,” Michele Margolis wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed. “But over the course of our lives, political choices tend to come first, religious choices second.”

We need to turn down the temperature in the culture wars. We need to resist the penetration of ideological polarization into matters of conscience. We should reject an insistence on consensus that subverts our national ethic of respect for minority views, and we should be suspect of the corporate machines that profit from these easy affirmations.

“The follow-up visits with Pete changed my life. … Pete was 86 years old when he accepted Christ.”

“A small but determined band of happy warriors, pro-life Democrats are some of the most interesting figures in American politics. Their continued existence in spite of marginalization by the party poses serious questions that the American political system cannot ignore.”

“A lot of this [apologetics] material wouldn’t appeal to a lot of people in black churches because the illustrations aren’t relevant, and some of the issues aren’t as relevant. There needs to be a bridge builder.”

A recent report on family leave policies suggests, “As citizens and culture-shapers, Christians should advocate for and develop policies and practices that protect, rather than fragment, family time.”

The Modeling Religion Project is “an international team of computer scientists, philosophers, religion scholars, and others … collaborating to build computer models that they populate with thousands of virtual people” in order to predict, among other things, how religion affects cultures.

“Being the good Shepherd did not prevent Jesus from being wounded. Nor does it keep today’s ministers from being wounded.”

There is an expectation that when we worship together we are going to sing. So, let the people sing. Take some time to figure out what your people sing and sing well.

“So it’s just a personality test?” I asked. I have since learned that referring to the Enneagram as “just” a personality test is to its aficionados like calling Beyoncé “just” a singer.

Are you demoralized, pastor? Have you been hollowed out? After telling everyone else about God’s grace, do you need to know it for yourself? May you find it in Bill and Skye’s story.