When I was getting my undergraduate degree at KSU back in the late 80s, I had a few friends from neighboring Manhattan Christian College. The running joke, many decades old even at that time I’m sure, was that many female students on their campus seemed a little less interested in getting an education than finding a husband. We called it the “MRS. Degree.” The comment carried a not so subtle condescension toward those young women who held to a more... Read more
I confess that I’m ambivalent, if not a little bit cranky about the coming of Spring. It feels like winter was just getting going and Spring had to come a long and ruin everything. 25-30 inches of snow in a month? We had it great there for awhile. I confess that I’m trying to have a good attitude about spring this year, but I can already feel myself gearing up to hear phrases like, “It’s not the heat, it’s the... Read more
I know that I claimed this week in the wake of April Fool’s Day that I do not like pranks, and in general I don’t. I feel too much sympathy for the people who are the butt of the joke. I typically like prank videos even less than the live version. But this one is priceless. The reason it’s so good, of course, is because the people reacting are all game. They all seem to be having a great time... Read more
Food is one of those things we consume an awful lot of without thinking too much about it – at least not theologically. Food represents 10% of the US GDP. It’s a big part of every single day of our lives. American spend more than a trillion dollars on food annually. I’ve written a few things on food before – on the importance of the evening meal, on the concept of menuha and a theology of food, and even preached... Read more
As a pastor, I find myself needing to talk about work and the American workplace constantly, and to constantly reevaluate my theology of work given the ever changing culture. In Public Jesus I wrote a whole chapter about work and vocation. More and more I am having conversations with people about work and how difficult it is to make sense of how we are spending our days. What are we working for? Are we doing something important with our lives,... Read more
I’m not an April Fool’s guy. I’ve never been much of a prankster on any day. I cannot enjoy another person’s discomfort, it trips my internal justice meter. If I’m around someone who is playing a practical joke I will purposefully ruin the joke before it ever happens because I can’t stand to see someone hung out to dry like that. It just bother’s me. So it never even entered my mind that people would think it was a prank... Read more
I confess that Easter may be my favorite day of the entire year. I love to tell the story. It never gets old. I confess that I love the fact that the culture hasn’t found a way to completely steal Easter yet. It has not yet become an overtly commercialized Christian holiday. I confess that the day after Easter is one of my least favorite days of the year for me for two reasons – It’s sot of like the... Read more
My wife and I dvr’d The History Channel’s “The Bible” miniseries & we were pretty excited. I had seen the publicity – folks like Rick Warren touting it as “the best I’ve ever seen” – so I went into this thing hoping it would be great. It is not great. On the positive side, the production is pretty good, and there are moments where the cinematography is nothing short of stunning. Visually, there are some really high moments from what... Read more
Every year on this day I wake up thinking about this painting. I’ve never seen it in person (bucket list), but I’ve known about it nearly my entire life. A copy of it was framed and hung in the second and third-grade Sunday School room in the tiny little Southern Baptist Church my family. When I was too bored or distracted to pay attention to the lesson I’d stare at this picture. It fascinates me. Maundy Thursday is rooted in... Read more
A friend of mine posted this on her facebook page a few weeks ago and I find myself returning to it constantly. I’m a big believer in the Enneagram system for understanding personality and the ego. I’m an Enneagram three, which means that my biggest fear is of being or seeming worthless. When I hit an obstacle, when I make a mistake, when I feel stressed, when I get exhausted, when I am attacked fairly or unfairly, when I am... Read more
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