I’m suspicious of motivational speaking and power of positivity preaching. On the other hand, I am convinced there’s good evidence that we get the outcomes we set our mind to. “Dispositional optimism”  has scientifically established positive outcomes. So along comes pandemic, and turns the world upside down, and of course pundits on “all sides” will work hard to interpret pandemic, give assignments, make meaning. To wit: These are the early social media forays into pandemic literature. More on the way.... Read more

In Bentonville, Arkansas, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities are planning to build a shared tri-faith house of worship. I have good friends who are Hindu who also consider themselves Christian. I have other friends who believe they have become more committed Christians because they are also Buddhist. Most Christians I know, myself included, are so deeply wedded to the liturgies of capitalism and nationalism that our Christianity is seriously hybridized with these religions. All the while, in spite of these... Read more

My dear friend Joshua Kenyon Daniel is now a priest in DC. He gives a first hand account of the peaceful protesting happening at St Johns when Donald Trump violently tear gassed clergy and lay Christians to remove them for his photo op. Not only is this an eye witness account. It is also a powerful, tearful sermon. As a citizen of this nation and as people of faith I encourage you to watch it and share it. Read more

I see in the New York Times today Tom Cotton is now training the same hawkish rhetoric he typically reserves for Iran and China onto the American people themselves. I guess this isn’t surprising, as it’s relatively clear from Cotton’s actions that only certain groups of Americans (that is, white Americans) count as truly American. I’m just going to offer a few brief rebuttals of the arguments Cotton makes in his op-ed. Based on past experience, I’m sure he won’t... Read more

In an era when the anxiety of influence and the need for distinctive “branding” reaches fever pitch, it’s not surprising groups would reach for doctrines or slogans that express their individuality. Lutherans among other denominations cultivate such distinctives in an attempt to distinguish themselves among the teaming proliferation of Christian movements. I’ve learned a few of these over the years, the categories that are supposedly uniquely ‘Lutheran’: Law/Gospel dialectic, by faith alone (or more broadly, the “Solas” of the Reformation),... Read more

Holy baptism is an incredibly multi-valent sacrament. It signifies entrance into the life of the church. It is an outward and visible sign of God’s grace. It is an opportunity for transformation, as well as a public sign of the spiritual transformation of the one undergoing it (think O Brother, Where Art Thou). It is a joining together in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Scripture, it is a dramatic dying and rebirth (Colossians 2:12), a sign of... Read more

The most obvious reason. Coronavirus spreads most easily person-to-person. The virus that causes COVID-19 is spreading very easily and sustainably between people. There are very few social situations on the planet more conducive to the spread of the virus than churches, because in church you spend extended amount of time in larger groups, and most of the normal practices of worship spread the virus more readily by aerosolizing the virus. Singing may be the worst, but just lots of people praying and... Read more

The question: Could you help me answer some theological questions? I would greatly appreciate your time and responses and links to any good articles or blogs. Question from a friend: Why does God seem so volatile and irritable in the Old Testament, yet forgiving and merciful in the New Testament? Here’s my response. First, I’d tell them that in my experience, a lot of people who read the OT experience this difference between the OT and the NT. There simply... Read more

I. Saturday sees velcro detached from velcro and the paraments changed. Green. Ordinary time. Easter and Pentecost and Trinity tied up. Sermon title for the first Sunday of Ordinary: “Observing the Average Trajectories of Single Photons in a Two-Slit Interferometer.”   On the altar, two cardboard walls. Two slits cut with an X-Acto. At the lectern, an electron beam gun. Extension cord. At the pulpit, the observer. Projected on screen: Schrödinger’s Equation.   The Holy Gospel According to What-We-Know-and-Don’t-Know. Thanks... Read more