The Orant

Last week in my “Modern Magi on the Meaning of Christmas”  conversation featuring with Scot McKnight,  Nadia Bolz-Weber, and Kyle Roberts  my conversation partners repeatedly brought up the importance of seeing Christmas as a lens through which we can see God's action in a world of fear, murder, tragedy. The world is broken, and that's an important part of the story. One of the things Nadia mentioned that really stuck with me was the idea that we have to keep "Herod in Christmas" We have to be re … [Read more...]

Bluefield College recently created what they are calling the "Hardest Bible Quiz You'll ever Take." It's a fun little quiz. I don't personally think it's the hardest bible quiz by a long shot (Brag: I got all 18 questions right my first time through). I'd love to hear how you all do. If you like this quiz you can also check out a quiz I put up a while ago on the Church Councils which I think might be a little bit harder. You can find THAT QUIZ here. I have included the Bluefield College quiz … [Read more...]

The scripture is filled with references to music. One of the most powerful is the refusal of the Israelite exiles to sing for their Babylonian captors in Psalm 137. We are left wondering what that music would have sounded like. It is hard to reconstruct ancient Israelite, or Babylonian music since we don't have the melodies.Thankfully Stef Conner and the Lyre Ensemble, have recently released a new album called the Flood which seeks to resurrect ancient Babylonian music as far as they are … [Read more...]

A few days ago Josh Tyra, a student at Trinity in Deerfield, IL, posted this hilarious and masterfully crafted song on Biblical Philology to the tune of "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" from The Pirates of Penzance. I was incredibly impressed. I had to share it with you all. There is arguably the most nerdy thing I have ever seen and I love every second of it. If you have ever studies the bible in any serious capacity please do yourself a favor and watch it, you will not regret … [Read more...]

I have long wanted to visit Iceland. It seems like my version of paradise. Not only is it said to have the unrivaled renewable energy, unprecedented safety, and exemplary health. It ALSO has the best hot dog in the world. This week my long list of reasons I wish I was in Iceland grew. I had known of Iceland's beauty, but this video which was just released opened up new doors to how incredible this small nation really is. I thought I would share it with you.They recorded most of it with a GoP … [Read more...]

Did you catch Saturday Night Live yesterday? They had a spot-on sketch about going to Mass. It is very rare that the media gets Church right. This is one of the few examples where they nail it and it's hilarious. I have included the video below. Check it out! … [Read more...]

Holiness is a theological concept that under-girds the entire life of the Christian community. It is fundamental to the life and experience of the Church as well as the life of God as revealed to us.  Although holiness is an adjective that is used to describe every member of the Trinity, the Creed connects it to the life of the community of faith in the third article as one of the four marks of the Church as an outworking of the life of the Holy Spirit – who is the object of the Creed’s third art … [Read more...]

Spiritual life is not a cake walk. I have to confess I feel like most of my days begin and end with a face-plant into the flotsam of failure. I want to love God. I want to love my neighbor as myself. I want to grow in holiness. Heck sometimes I just want to be able to put my shoes on without falling over.Most days I flounder from my higher ambitions. All days I fall short of the goal.This long defeat, as Tolkien called it, can leave us wondering where to find God in the midst of the … [Read more...]