It was the first time Caitlin hosted the holiday dinner for her family. 27 people would be at the tables, 19 at the main, and 8 at the “Kid’s Table.” Two babies would be held or sleeping in carrying baskets. …
Political Religion
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. —Psalm 2:2 “Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous!” said Winston Churchill. “In war you …
Blessed
Blessed is the man . . . —Psalm 1:1 There’s an ancient Chinese teaching riddle that tells the story of a man who’s running from a hungry bear. Suddenly he’s at the edge of a cliff. It’s either jump or …
The House of Christmas
There fared a mother driven forth Out of an inn to roam; In the place where she was homeless All men are at home. The crazy stable close at hand, With shaking timber and shifting sand, Grew a stronger thing …
Advent 4 – love might be reborn and rekindled
There is a powerful scene in Herman Melville’s great epic, Moby Dick, where Captain Ahab stands peg-legged on the deck of the Pequod during a violent storm (chapter 119). His obsession with the White Whale has carried the craft and …
Advent 3 – We see the Light and clap our hands
Dance in the Desert. Madeleine L’Engle’s book is too dark for children, too simple for adults, too deep for theologians, and just right for everyone. She tells of a young couple on a desert journey through wilderness in a rough …
Advent 2 – One fellow tells of his work as a hospital volunteer
One fellow tells of his work as a hospital volunteer. He couldn’t believe the pain and suffering he saw there. Burn victims. Deformities. Terminal cancer. He watched the little ones cry. Some were so lonely: their parents couldn’t take the …
Advent 1 – King Ahaz had a problem
First Sunday in Advent: King Ahaz had a problem. His country was small, and was about to be gobbled up by war-hungry Assyria, the bully on the block. Every day the news was the same: no hope; no win; no …
The Death of Hope Part 4 The Remixed
By and large, today’s new cults of and for the Remixed are what I will call “intuitional religions.” By this, I mean that their sense of meaning is based in narratives that simultaneously reject clear-cut creedal metaphysical doctrines and institutional …
The Death of Hope Part 3 Strange Rites
I believe in God. I’m not a religious fanatic. I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice … It’s just trying to love …
