“In the face of death, I realized that it was not love that kept me clinging to life but unresolved anger. Love, real love flowing from me or toward me, sets me free to die. Death would not undo that love. To the contrary, death would deepen it and strengthen […]
Christianity
107 posts
I have a confession. Until recently, I had not read C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I know, hard to believe, right? Especially for a kid from an evangelical background, but the truth is, I found the constant analogies annoying. I would get a chapter or two into it and my […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” “Grace, she takes the blame She covers the shame Removes the stain It could be her name” I was sitting in a meeting of the university deans with the president and the provost presiding. We were discussing language for a new campaign, considering what slogan […]
“Some years ago, during a service at our church, my eyes wandered (I am sorry to say) to a banner that was propped up in the corner. It was to be part of a float that the children were preparing to enter in a local carnival, and on it was […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” Rather than the love of money, it is perhaps the lack of contentment, the ability to be satisfied with what one has, that is the root of most evils. Why else do we yearn for more money than because we are unsatisfied […]
“THE now wherein God made the first man and the now wherein the last man disappears and the now I speak in, all are the same in God where this is but the now.”Eckhart: Sermons and Collations. As my friend Jonathan said when reading this, “Brunner ante litteram.” See my […]
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 […]
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 […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” In-between is the adjective that describes the state in which we we always live. We exist between events, duties, relationships, careers. The Bible is full of examples of individuals and communities on the move from one place to another, living as nomads, […]