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February 2019
February 14, 2019
Grownup Love: A Post for Valentine’s Day
Not long ago, Jeanne and I had dinner with Beverley and Ed, two Long Island...
February 12, 2019
The Most Important Lesson from the Sermon on the Mount: Don’t be a Jerk
In his lovely little book Wishful Thinking, Frederick Buechner suggests that what we often dismiss as...
January 2019
January 26, 2019
When it Comes to Prayer, Stop Talking and Start Relating
One of the most fascinating and troubling verses in the Jewish scriptures is from the...
January 17, 2019
Know Your Bible, and Know Your Greek Mythology
During summer orientation for freshmen, I often help the director of the Honors Program on...
January 10, 2019
Just Your Typical Family, or Jesus Gets Grounded
Each week for many years, Garrison Keillor told “Prairie Home Companion” listeners the news from...
January 08, 2019
A New Year’s Resolution: Dream More, and Waste Less Time
At the beginning of a new year, I often find myself thinking not so much...
December 2018
December 24, 2018
Christus Natus Est
Christmas movies are a big deal at my house. Jeanne goes for the classics, such...
December 23, 2018
Mary with No Assumptions
I have a colleague and friend with whom I share a lot in common. Eric...
December 16, 2018
Joseph: An Awesome Stepfather with a Questionable Pedigree
In my religious tradition, we didn’t do saints. But we did do Christmas pageants—big time....
December 13, 2018
Did Jesus Ever Say “I’m Sorry”?
A popular Christian writer got herself in trouble not long ago by suggesting on Twitter...
December 11, 2018
Advent is for Introverts
I was raised in a version of Christianity that had no sense of the liturgical...
December 09, 2018
Banging on the Door of Hope
We’ve all done this, we bang and bang on the door of hope, and don’t...
December 06, 2018
Does the Word of God Settle Everything?
I recently had a brief, unproductive exchange in the comment section of this blog with...
November 2018
November 29, 2018
Trailing Clouds of Glory, We Come From God
As we approach the Advent and Christmas seasons, I am in a forward-looking and hopeful...
November 23, 2018
Black Friday and the War on Christmas
Today is Black Friday, the unfortunate beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Apparently in service...
November 20, 2018
A Birthday Worth Noting
Today is my youngest son Justin's thirty-seventh birthday. If that's not enough to make me...
November 13, 2018
A Foreign Widow, Seduction, and the Book of Ruth
One of my favorite features of liturgical worship is encountering familiar and favorite texts during...
November 09, 2018
Am I My Neighbor’s Keeper?
Thanks to the caravan of refugees moving north, President Trump's choice to stoke up fears...
October 2018
October 31, 2018
Halloween Jesus or Fire-Insurance Policy Jesus?
One Sunday, toward the end of a particularly lively and deep seminar with my “Living...
October 30, 2018
The Ghosts of Halloweens Past
Tomorrow is Halloween!–one of my least favorite holidays of the year. I know that offends...
October 21, 2018
The Chapel and the Man Cave: Bridging the Gap Between Faith and Intellect
About a month ago I received an email from my friend Marsue, brief and to...
October 09, 2018
Call Her “Doctor”–She’s Earned It (and so have I)
According to the gospel accounts, Jesus had little regard for traditional honorifics, titles, or the...
October 07, 2018
It Don’t Matter
It's been a rough couple of months at our house, as two members of the...
September 2018
September 25, 2018
Obsessed with the Apocalypse
Last spring I taught a colloquium called "Apocalypse" with a colleague from the English department....
September 11, 2018
Seventeen Years Ago Today
Two years ago, the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11 fell on a Sunday. The priest of...
September 03, 2018
It’s Labor Day–What is YOUR Labor Worth?
It's Labor Day--an opportunity for each of us to reflect on the value of our...
September 02, 2018
Remembering John McCain: How to Move Past a Season of Cowardice
While the President of the United States tweeted his usual string of petty Saturday morning...
August 2018
August 30, 2018
Is Planet Earth a Loser?
My youngest son was born in 1981 and grew up as Americans began, for the...
August 23, 2018
Getting Over Original Sin
Last Tuesday, on the sixth anniversary of my blog, I posted my first blog post--an...
August 21, 2018
Hail Frieda, Full of Grace
Six years ago today, after a great deal of resistance, I finally followed the advice...
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