Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, for lots of different reasons. It is the least commercial of all the major holidays in this country, neatly nestled between two of the most commericial: Halloween and Christmas. It is the reason for the longest break I get during the Fall semester. Most important, it has been my family’s favorite holiday for the last thirty-seven years because on the day before Thanksgiving in 1987, my sons and I met Jeanne at my parents’ condominium,... Read more
You may have noticed that I’ve been providing more links to view and listen to recently in my posts than has been my custom, especially since the recent election. There’s a reason for that–I don’t have anything particularly insightful to say these days that isn’t said much more insightfully by others. That’s partly because I’m not anxious to jump into the post-mortem on the recent election, but also because I’m in the middle of a very busy semester, I have... Read more
First, some big news! I received the page proofs of A Year of Faith and Philosophy a couple of days ago–they look great! One more time through, and the book will be essentially out of my hands until its publication early next October. It has been a labor of love–a long process that is close to completion. This Sunday is the final Sunday of Ordinary Time–in a bit over a week we begin a brand new liturgical cycle. Here are... Read more
Readers of this blog know that a month ago, I spent two days with my son Justin in Denver, CO at Theology Beer Camp, a memorable gathering that we undoubtedly will do our best to attend next year as well. One of the memorable sessions we attended at Beer Camp was “The Interlocking Crises of Religion and Democracy,” a conversation between scholars Diana Butler Bass, Gary Dorrian, and Robert C. Jones, moderated by Aaron Stauffer. If you don’t know who... Read more
The lectionary reading from the Jewish scriptures for today involves one of my favorite Bible characters. Here’s what I have included in my forthcoming book A Year of Faith and Philosophy for this Sunday and this text. The books of the Bible were written over centuries by men in patriarchal societies; the texts were selected and curated in later centuries by men in patriarchal societies. And yet, women’s voices frequently shine through, as we have seen throughout this book. Sarah, Rahab,... Read more
So how are you doing ten days after the election? In the wee hours of the morning a week ago Wednesday, when it became official that the worst that could happen had happened, I made a decision that has turned out to be helpful and that I plan to live by for the forseeable future. Stop watching 24/7 news. Stop listening to politics podcasts while walking Bovina every morning. The amount of time and energy I spent over the past... Read more
One Sunday some time ago as I was listening to our local NPR station in the car during an errand run, I heard a brief piece about “Disturbed,” a heavy metal band that had just received its second Grammy nomination. Their first was in 2009; now, several years later, they had another one. My knowledge of contemporary heavy metal is non-existent, as is my interest in that musical genre—this would have usually been reason for me to switch to the... Read more
The Proper 27 psalm and gospel readings for today are very appropriate for where we find ourselves post-election. I posted an earlier version of this last summer–here’s the final version that will be in my book A Year of Faith and Philosophy which will be out next year. The Proper 27 Year B gospel reading from Mark draws our attention to the importance of using what one has to further the kingdom of God rather than asking, “I’m only one... Read more
I know I’m not the only person who has been feeling like a zombie for the last few days. I have nothing insightful to post, nothing promising to say at this point. I did find the following from Diana Butler Bass helpful, though. She posted it in her newsletter late on Tuesday night when it was becoming more clear what was going to happen. I hope it help you too. Be well. This evening is painful. It seems as if... Read more
Yesterday I posted what I wrote the day before the presidential election in 2016. Today I am reposting what I wrote on Election Day in 2020, the second of three consecutive “most important elections of our lifetime.” Other than changing the names of the candidates, I’ve changed nothing else in this post from four years ago. As you’ll see, very little has changed from four years ago. In 1969, Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge released the single ‘Worst That... Read more
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