I obviously having absolutely nothing genuinely new to add to the discussion of God in 2020, save that I am the one adding. That is to say, each believer, I think, has a responsibility to state as clearly as possible just who or what she or he thinks God is. This is especially important at this charged moment in human history, as the entire world is engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic that has to date claimed over 1⁄2 million lives,... Read more

I take my title today from that infectious Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, “The Pirates of Penzance.” In a typically silly plot, the operetta is filled with stories and characters that are hardly at all what they seem, from pirates who turn out to be real noblemen, to a man who on paper is 21 years old, but since he was born on leap day, Feb.29, will not really be 21 for many years. Things really “are seldom what they seem,... Read more

I imagine that most of you can easily finish my chosen title today by adding “And he is us.” This phrase was made famous by the cartoonist Walt Kelly in his “Pogo” strip, but the phrase itself was apparently first used on a poster created in 1970 to emphasize the importance of Earth Day, an importance that has only dangerously increased in the last 50 years. To explore the origins of the phrase a bit further, it was a significant... Read more

The Bible is a fabulous book. I use that adjective in both of its common senses. The Bible is both celebrated and legendary. That is, some see it as superb beyond compare, the very pinnacle of all ancient and modern writings, “the sufficient rule both of faith and of practice,” while others see it is a collection of legends, poems, and stories that have some value but are in the main fanciful and quite literally unbelievable. I readily admit that... Read more

I had a difficult time sleeping last night, because I was worried about whether our planned trip to Hawaii in October was going to be possible. We have reserved an AirB&B property there, after which we want to visit dear college friends who live on the Big Island. We may have to cancel that reserved property, but must do so very soon if we are not to lose a significant amount of money. We have the air tickets, but that... Read more

The Bible’s stories are riddled with sharp questions and often peculiar and twisted answers. When YHWH asks the hidden ‘adam, lurking among the trees of the garden, scratching in those hilarious fig-leaf aprons, “Where are you?”, the reply is loquacious and devious: “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid and naked. I hid myself.” A most unusual answer to a very simple question! In the very next chapter of the story, YHWH’s question to Cain, standing in... Read more

One of the more distressing things about the COVID-19 pandemic is the loss of crowd-driven sporting events. I know that sounds like the pathetic whine of a privileged soul, and I agree that it is. There are far more distressing things like: tragic and mounting sickness and deaths, monumental job loss, family disruptions of all sorts, deep loneliness and heart-breaking separations. But there remains, among those of us who set our calendars by the seasons of sports, a sad sense... Read more

Yesterday, June 16, my wife and I did something we have not done in about three months. We got in our car (during the pandemic we did not drive either of our cars enough to prevent a visit from AAA to jump the battery of both of them), went first to a store and then on to visit a friend. No, the visit was not on Zoom (though we did have several zooms during the day and evening), but was... Read more

I well remember a small book written for the United Methodist Women in celebration of the American Bi-centennial in 1976. It was written by a UM Bishop, James Armstrong, and was entitled “The Nation Yet to Be.” During the heavily patriotic festivities marking the 200-year founding of the nation, this book raised a sharp series of questions suggesting that our celebrations should be tempered with serious and careful looks at the multiple ways in which the nation had yet to... Read more

Of the discussions of the contested relationships between the church and the state there truly is no end, and I think that is exactly right. The existence of these two powers in every society must by necessity serve as the source of a healthy and vigorous interaction. This is so because the two represent the most prominent institutions in the culture no matter where that culture be found. By “church,” I mean those institutions that concern themselves with matters religious,... Read more