- 05/23/2012
Catacomb Christianity and Cathedral Christianity
The catacombs are the legacy of a tiny persecuted band of believers. The cathedrals represent a very different turn in church history: a church that not only could grow in size but could, in fact, outgrow and outlast the Empire itself. We need both, somehow.
3 comments - 05/21/2012
As a Chaplain, Must I Always Publicly Pray in Jesus' Name?
If you are asked to pray, you can only pray as a Christian. In so doing, you are actually, ironically enough, protecting the rights of other religions and their chaplains. I frankly don't want a Muslim chaplain forced by the government to pray like a Episcopalian.
128 comments - 05/12/2012
Mother's Day and the Infertile
Mother's Day is a particularly sensitive time in many congregations, and pastors and church leaders often don't even know it. It is good and right to honor mothers. We must recognize though that many infertile women find this day almost unbearable.
55 comments - 05/09/2012
What Maurice Sendak Can Teach the Church
Maurice Sendak, who just died, doesn't seem, at first glance, to have much to teach Christians. After all, he was an atheist with a cynical outlook and a foul mouth.
6 comments - 04/27/2012
Beyond a Trickle-Down Liturgy
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of trickle-down liturgy. What I mean by that is music that is designed and marketed somewhere, makes it on Christian radio or other media, and then becomes familiar enough that people start singing it in church.
7 comments - 04/08/2012
How the Resurrection Undoes Our Need to Be Proven Right
Sometime before dawn on Sunday morning, a spike-torn hand twitched. A blood-crusted eyelid opened. God was not simply delivering Jesus (and with him all of us) from death.
- 03/26/2012
Should Christians Boycott Starbucks?
In this case (and in many like it) a boycott exposes us to all of our worst tendencies. Christians are tempted, again and again, to fight like the devil to please the Lord.
- 03/21/2012
Peace and Justice in Iraq?
Tuesday was the ninth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. We might disagree about whether the war was the right decision, and about where U.S. policy should go from here. But those who belong to Christ ought to be able to agree on one at least one thing: prayer for peace, justice, and gospel in the old country of Abram.
- 03/16/2012
Should I Divorce If I'm Miserable?
My wife and I are at an impasse. There's been no abandonment, no sexual immorality, and no abuse. We just don't get along. We should have known we are incompatible.
- 02/29/2012
Is It Right for a Christian to Take Anti-Depressants?
Depression is not just unpleasant; it can be debilitating and dangerous, and it signals that something has gone wrong somewhere. God created us as whole persons, with body and psyche together.
37 comments - 02/25/2012
Johnny Cash at Eighty
This Sunday would be Johnny Cash's eightieth birthday. To be sure, Cash's Christian testimony is a mixed bag.
2 comments - 02/21/2012
Always Mardi Gras and Never Easter
There's nothing quite as bleak as a city street the morning after Mardi Gras. The steam of the humidity rises silently over asphalt riddled with forgotten doubloons, broken bottles, littered cigarettes, used condoms, clotted blood, and mangled vomit.
1 comments - 02/16/2012
Gambling and the Common Good
Pro-gambling elected officials aren't evil villains (necessarily). Many of these elected officials have good aims. But I think both proponents and opponents of expanded gambling see this as merely a "values" issue.
13 comments - 02/13/2012
Let's Have More Worship Wars
Most of our varying critiques of musical forms are often just narcissism disguised as concern about theological and liturgical downgrade. That's why I think we need more, and better, worship wars.
- 02/02/2012
The Planet of the Apes and Christian Eschatology
Eschatology and discipleship in the church is kind of like sex education in the home. Just because you don't talk about sex with your kids doesn't mean they will grow up ignorant of sex.
1 comments
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