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April 2020

April 11, 2020

New Life is for Real: A Childhood Easter Tale

Several years ago, just in time for the Christmas holiday season, a new book by Sarah...

April 08, 2020

Waiting for an Hour: A Maundy Thursday Meditation

Some people can sleep anywhere. One of those people was a student in one of...

April 05, 2020

Palm Sunday and the Teaching Life

With Palm Sunday begins what will be the strangest Holy Week of my lifetime. The...

March 2020

March 31, 2020

Don’t Be Afraid to Die

Last Sunday was the Fifth Sunday of Lent; we are heading directly for Palm Sunday,...

March 29, 2020

Step back, be quiet, and be at peace

My friend Mitch, who is the priest-in-charge at the Episcopal church I attend, has asked...

March 24, 2020

Visions of (the) Rapture Now Burst On My Sight

Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight; Angels, descending, bring...

March 20, 2020

If you want to witness the resurrection, then be the resurrection

Lead on King Eternal, the day of march has come Henceforth in fields of conquest Thy...

March 18, 2020

The Coronavirus, the Apocalypse, and the Book of Revelation

There is something appropriate about teaching a course named “Apocalypse” in the middle of world...

March 11, 2020

The Gospel in a Nutshell

Sports fans old enough to remember the 70s and 80s will recall that a regular...

March 02, 2020

God Is Doing the Best that God Can Do

Frank Tupper, an important Baptist theologian who argued that God is in control of very...

February 2020

February 29, 2020

Jesus I Know . . . But Who are You?

Today is the First Sunday of Lent; the gospel traditionally is a version of Jesus'...

February 24, 2020

A Lenten Reflection: The Difference Between Solitude and Being Alone

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to yourself. Michel...

February 23, 2020

A Lesson from Transfiguration Sunday: Stop, Look, and Listen–but don’t touch

Today is the last Sunday before Lent, a Sunday which, in the liturgical calendar, is...

February 18, 2020

When an Important Memory Turns Out to be Wrong

My youngest son, Justin, has a remarkable memory--for, as he puts it, "totally useless facts."...

February 15, 2020

The Prophet Isaiah Goes to the National Prayer Breakfast

I was the scheduled lector at the 8:00 service last Sunday, the first time I...

February 13, 2020

“Custodians of each other’s well-being”–A Reflection for Valentine’s Week

Human love in the purest forms we can know it, wife and husband, parent and...

February 11, 2020

Spiritual Punctuation

In my life-long spiritual journey, the decade of my twenties was the charismatic decade. No,...

February 08, 2020

The Gospel at Gun-Point

In the religious world of my youth and adolescence, Billy Graham was a rock star....

February 02, 2020

Idolatry and Abortion

I wrote the essay that follows several months ago; on the advice of some trusted...

January 2020

January 28, 2020

When to Care, and When Not to Care

The only way I can get through the tedium of working out on an aerobic...

January 26, 2020

Staying Sane During the Impeachment Trial

The other day somebody wrote on Twitter that “President Trump is the best president in...

January 19, 2020

American Airlines 4395, Bombing Raids Over Germany, and a Spark of the Divine

Perhaps a novel whose main character is the squadron leader for World War II bombing...

January 16, 2020

Best of 2019 #3: When Christianity Becomes an Angry and Fearful Faith

Last June, I used essays by Michael Gerson and Marilynne Robinson to explore what happens...

January 12, 2020

What Really Happened that Day at the Jordan River?

The season of Epiphany, squeezed in between the Christmas season and Lent, is the annual...

January 09, 2020

The Best of 2019 #4: The Dangers of Tribal Christianity

Last May, I wrote about the often-made claim from evangelical Christians that they are the...

January 06, 2020

An Epiphany in Real Time

Yesterday was the Feast of the Epiphany, the first day of the liturgical season that...

January 03, 2020

Best of 2019 #5: Is Donald Trump the “Chosen One”?

On this third day of the New Year, I am grateful for many things--including the...

December 2019

December 29, 2019

A Family on the Run, and Dead Babies in the Streets

This Christmas season seems more dissonant than most, with violence across the globe, an impeachment...

December 26, 2019

Dammit, It’s the Incarnation!

Last year around this time, I posted an essay that turned out to be more...

December 23, 2019

Why the Details of Jesus’ Birth Don’t Matter

A couple of years ago, I was asked to take on a temporary administrative position...

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