Bailouts, breached levees, and pregnant chads, oh my! I’m not much of a retrospective guy, but David Von Drehle’s “2000: A Nation Divided” in TIME a few weeks back has kept me in the mood for some time now. And reading Dave Eggers’ fantastic book Zeitoun this week only drove the nail home. Here’s what [...]
Does the manger matter?
The Bible gets four shots to tell Jesus’ birth — well, four gospel writers plus Paul and the other epistle writers, so at least four. But the manger only appears in Luke. For many current-day Christians, the Christmas story would be incomplete without the manger scene: little baby Jesus wrapped in bands of cloth and [...]
Mary’s Song, Magnificat
I’m off this morning to my weekly text study group with local pastors. Since Sunday’s lectionary texts include Mary’s Magnificat, Luke 1:47-55, as the canticle I thought I’d repost this reflection on Mary’s powerful song. Are you preaching from Luke 1 this Sunday? How so? The God Who The God who looks with favor on [...]
Tiger Woods: PR Grace or Simply a Disgrace?
After working on rehabilitating his personal life, Tiger Woods last month started to rehab his public image too. And, for this skeptical un-fan at least, it’s a good start. The first step in his off-season PR moves was a Newsweek article, “How I’ve Redefined Victory.” I’m not naive enough to think Tiger wrote much of [...]
Advice for folk seeking a first call
Jeff contacted me recently seeking to collect advice for folk searching for their first call to ordained ministry. I’ve written on this in various ways over the years: Negotiating for a better future Why “bi-vocational” is a dirty word On my evolving understanding of vocation Are you an urbanist? Thoughts on rural ministry PC(USA) Call Process: [...]
(Retro)sexism in the church
also posted at CENTURY Blog I learned a new word recently and then encountered it three times that day. “Retrosexism” hasn’t made it into the Oxford English Dictionary yet, but a Google search turns up several thousand hits, and Newsweek noted last month that “the term ‘retrosexual’ has all but replaced ‘metrosexual’ in the lifestyle [...]
God bless America’s pastime
(Also posted at the CENTURY Blog) “Please stand and take off your hats for the singing of ‘God Bless America.’” That’s how the announcer introduced the seventh inning stretch at a recent Minnesota Twins game I attended. Minnesotans are nothing if not rule followers, so we stood, many took off their hats, and some even [...]
