Music is one of the things keeping me centered through this time. Wondering what y’all are listening to. Here’s my best music of the first quarter of 2020 list. 1. Ultraísta, Sister, Radiohead’s producer and Beck’s drummer teamed up 2. HMLTD, West of Eden 3. Poliça, When We Stay Alive 4. Four Tet, Sixteen Oceans 5. Wolf Parade, Thin Mind 6. Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters 7. Caribou, Suddenly 8. Pearl Jam, Gigaton 9. Bob Dylan, Murder Most Foul... Read more

Once women won the right to vote, Dorothy Day never voted. Spending time recently with Blythe Randolph and John Loughery’s new biography of her, I’ve been meditating on this decision of hers, arising as it did out of her deep and abiding Christian faith, and specifically her opposition to war. I’ve been through more than one phase in my life when I honestly thought about joining her act of protest. Voting is, after all, an act of complicity. If you... Read more

“The metaphorical view is not the one that was held in the New Testament (which knew nothing about immortal souls) or in the writings of the Fathers of the church in early Christianity, both of which centered on the cosmic combat between the power of God and the powers and principalities, in which God, in Christ, is victorious (Christus Victor). When Adam and Eve succumbed to the wiles of Satan, the story goes, the rule or reign of sin and... Read more

This morning I’m watching a PBS special with my kids about the Lutherans Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler who, based on their observations of stars and comets, transformed the world’s understanding of the universe. It still astounds me that in 2020, when our world is confronted with a pandemic, our theologians and leaders are busy not adapting to what is actually available and present to our experience, our new ways of knowing the world, but are instead still clinging to... Read more

Let’s go point by point through the Lutheran confessional documents in order to see what they actually have to say about communion. The Small Catechism: the head of household has the responsibility for teaching the portions of the small catechism in the home. On the topic communion, there is no mention of who should preside, or where communion should take place, or how many people need to be present. It does say, “It is not the eating and drinking, indeed,... Read more

I’m going to keep this short and simple, because none of us are operating at full capacity right now, responding as we are to so many daily and hourly changes, but also because I hope it will increase the chances we can all implement these suggestions. There are no power-user tips here. If you want pro insights for video editing software or the best strategies for live-streaming, there are sites for that. This is going to be lo-fi, simple, and... Read more

All of our curve-flattening and social distancing and use of new distributed media will mainstream lo-fi sensibilities. All of a sudden the Willie Nelson charity concert with expensive production values shifts to video-cam from the basements of artists in Nashville, no one is going to the movies, and everyone is on Zoom.   Embrace this moment. Make your mix tapes. Get your DIY on. Bust out the skiffle records. Punk your worship streaming. The high fidelity snobs have to stay... Read more

Fair warning: this is a theological argument internal to the sacramental theology of one rather odd Christian polity, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. To start, any reader needs to know some basic theological assumptions of our polity. First, we have some guiding documents on our sacraments. The main one, the Use of the Means of Grace, along with another one, Principles for Worship (Principle), are our most recent interpretation of the primary document, the Augsburg Confession. Oh, and also the Bible. Although I... Read more

As a result of curve-flattening measures during this pandemic, liturgical worship communities across the country and around the world are experimenting with digitally mediated worship services, primarily broadcast as livestream or podcast.  All portions of such services, including the hymns, prayers, lessons, and sermon, are as easily broadcast via livestream as conducted in person in a church building.  The hangup for many liturgical communities comes with the distribution of communion. Some communions believe that only the ordained pastor can “consecrate”... Read more