“Kill them all! Let God sort them out!” And other forms of violent indiscriminate bluster are the language of self-righteousness. The Crusaders asked, “what about the Christians in the city?” The response was “kill them all!” The Lord knows his own. January 6th is the latest fruit of violent self-righteousness. The attempts to justify the actions of those who took part continue the pattern. There is no repentance. I have yet to hear apologies from anyone. It is common to... Read more
Progress is the American mythical value. Our most cherished belief is that we are improving. It is what we want to hear. Like a patient whose condition is dire, we want to hear the doctor say we are getting better. It is an important part of who we suppose ourselves to be. We will lie to the dying person. Progress, we say, is even a Christin virtue. Many people who read my blog will proudly claim the title “Progressive Christian.”... Read more
Project Hail Mary is the latest work by Andy Weir. It is as good if not better than his first novel The Martian. I am not giving a review of his book. I am merely using the assumptions of the plot to discuss the larger picture of human relations, technology, and mysticism. The Hail Mary Play Even though the term was used in football before, it came into widespread use after Roger Staubach threw the amazing last ditch pass to Drew Pearson... Read more
Okay. We all know the concept of “being a materialist is bad.” People should not be given over to inordinate desires. And people should not assume only what we see is real. It is not a safe assumption. One must prove it is true. But what about an inordinate desire for materialism itself? Can a person fall into a trap trying to prove a point to the last person who does not accept it? Not A Good Materialist I do... Read more
My son was very upset with his grandparents one Sunday morning. Their church passed the elements of Holy Communion. My son watched his relatives take bread and juice from the trays while refusing to share any of it with him. They were appalled by his reaction. He was then four years old. I explained it to them. In our church everyone receives communion. Their church only baptized believers received it. Try explaining that to a three year old. We did... Read more
The Working Class has spoken. They spoke in 2016 and 2020. But are we listening? The biggest problem for churches that I see is that we ignore working class people. Yep. It’s the people in the trailer parks, low income neighborhoods, and rural areas working for wages who are crying out. We fail to hear them. Why? It’s simple. Churches want and must have middle class people to pay for everything. Every value the churches stand for during our holiday... Read more
June is the month I consider again the same is question. What paths lead to a spirituality for Environmentalism? Ideas about recycling, green energy, rain forest protection, and catastrophic warnings have been offered in my lifetime. Few of these ideas have caught on with the general public. Recycling turns out to be a matter of convenience. Green energy is only gradually coming into mass use. Hollywood style catastrophes rarely happen in real life. A spiritual vision for the natural world... Read more
“There was only one (morally) perfect man who ever walked the earth.” I was in the sixth grade when I overheard this claim made by one of our teachers. We were in a public school in the South. It was hardly a hotbed of secularism. I knew who she meant. Jesus Christ. It was unthinkable to consider Jesus was morally problematic. He was perfect. Jesus was sinless. He was divine. He rose from the dead because he died without sin.... Read more
The Pandemic introduced me and other reluctant clergy to Online Worship. We witnessed heroic efforts on the part of many clergy to learn over night how to record, edit, and stream something resembling worship. Seminaries did not and could not prepare us for it. We went online to learn how to do things online. Clergy experienced anguish, exhaustion, and our churches closing with a real possibility of never reopening. In short, we were tried and found faithful to our ministries. I... Read more
Addiction is fashionable in churches. Congregations host Recovery meetings, have Celebrate Recovery ministries, and, because of the Opioid Crisis, hold overdose response training. I am glad there is interest. The absolute worst thing churches can do is ignore a problem. I am also grateful. Grace works one day at a time if it works at all. I have a few words of advice for churches considering these ministries. Addiction Is A Living Death The late Brennan Manning is known for... Read more
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