Third Sunday of Advent (December 17, 2023) Almost twenty years ago, in my first year as an honors college dean, we were having a dinner of our Advisory Board. During the drinks and hors d’oeuvres, I saw a board member that I had not yet met and went up and […]
As readers of this blog know, Frederick Buechner and his works have been incredibly influential in my life over the last ten years so it was a gracious gift from Dr. Andrew Newell to allow me to contribute an essay for the Buechner Review. I confess that I fretted about […]
Second Sunday of Advent (December 10, 2023) “Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.” In the name of … We come to religion for answers. There may be […]
Advent 1 – New Life First Sunday of Advent (December 3, 2023) “Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” (Ps. 80:7) In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost… This morning is the first Sunday of Advent. […]
A picture of a window in the Duke Humfrey’s Library in the Bodleian Library. You can see the Radcliffe Camera and the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the background of the pane on the left. On the right, I do not know who the man is in […]
A sermon for St. John’s, Versailles, KY. Proper 25 (30) (October 29, 2023) Matt. 22:34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is […]
“I believe…in the resurrection of the body.” I grew up in a Presbyterian church where the preacher focused on interpreting the Bible, expository preaching plain and simple. The physical space had very little adornment. The windows were rose-colored stained-glass (ironic, I always thought)1The video linked is of Petra’s “Rose-Colored Stained […]
Fowl Language is a panel comic by Brian Gordon that usually focuses upon the challenges of parenthood…through ducks. It seems that, in the world of the comic, if not Gordon’s own life, grief has arrived as the father’s mother is nearing her end. His last two comics are wonderful and […]
As a member of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid #BibleGatewayPartner, I was offered the opportunity to review a free copy of The Evangelical Study Bible (Thomas Nelson Bibles, 2023; evangelicalstudybible.com). It is available for purchase from the FaithGateway Store and Amazon. TLDR “Too Long Didn’t Read,” as the kids say: […]
Thirty years ago in August, Elizabeth and I were married. Over our honeymoon, I was encouraged to send in an application to the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew & Jewish Studies for their one-year “Graduate Diploma.” I was admitted and received a full scholarship, so we deferred the offer from […]