Last week I wrote a post, How to Talk to Children About God (Heaven, Hell, Jesus, Salvation, and How it All Works). I have been interested in the negative response to one single sentence: “Her base identity before she is a girl, your daughter, a sister, white, American, etc, is that she belongs to Jesus.” This idea touches a nerve because it is one place in which Christianity is deeply subversive toward American culture. One person commented: “And then, if... Read more
I cannot think of Lent w/out thinking of this scene from Apollo 13. Our culture can sell us a million different ways to keep the lights on. It takes a practice like Lent to teach us how to switch them off so that we can learn to see in the dark – even if it is the only way home. Lent is officially the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday excepting Sundays. It is meant to be a... Read more
I confess that I did not watch the Grammy Awards last night. I confess that I have been unable to watch since about 1998, about the time I started making records and living off songwriting and performing. I’m sure it is some sort of personal defect, but although I love the performances, the awards themselves give me a rash. I typically go back the next day and watch all of the live songs & enjoy that part immensely. I think... Read more
Pope Benedict stunned the world this morning when he announced his own retirement. I did not see this coming. I have not been a huge fan of Benedict as I’ve watched him forcibly quash the influence of liberation theology and move the Roman Catholic church toward toward the conservative in nearly all things. I hope this signals a change in direction, but I doubt it. I will certainly be praying for the college of Cardinals, hoping that there might be... Read more
This came from Richard Rohr, The Good News According to Luke: Spiritual Reflections, p. 138. I love how Rohr emphasizes Jesus’s teaching about giving and receiving love. This is such a key piece of what it means to encounter God. If we lose this, we lose everything. The Gospel cannot happen in your head alone. The gospel is about relationship. Unless there is someplace on this earth where it’s happening between you and another person, I don’t believe you have any criterion... Read more
This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time. Thanks the G. Madden for posting it. I needed a good laugh and this does the trick. So here’s some more over the top Friday Funny: Read more
This kid is every youth minister’s nightmare (but in a good way). Here he is ripping on the repetitive and derivative nature of modern worship music. It’s not a bad critique, as long as we remember that a similar critique can be made of most music in the pop/rock genre. It reminds me of my all-time favorite ironic liner note comment, made by Ben Folds in the liner note of his album titled (ironically), “Whatever and Ever Amen.” “This recording... Read more
I’m working on an article for The Huffington Post right now and I’m reminded of something central to the Christian faith: Truth is a person. Here’s a little bit of what I’m thinking about. Among evangelicals, as it is everywhere, the search for truth has always been much more about power and control. The truth question is always a power game. Only people who have not been fully transformed by the truth of the gospel still want to play that... Read more
From NPR today: Scottie the dog is not going to like this news: Monopoly fans have voted to add a cat to the classic game’s cast of eight playing pieces. Getting the boot: Well, it wasn’t the boot. It’s the iron that got flattened. The results of Hasbro’s Facebook vote were revealed on NBC-TV’s Today Show. We suspect iron is a victim of modern times and wrinkle-free technology. And, of course, the all-powerful cat lobby, which can overcome even the worst publicity. Other game pieces... Read more
About a year ago I got an email from a parent telling me that her daughter was asking questions about God, heaven, hell, salvation and how it all works. I’m a big fan of answering questions with stories, answering questions with more questions. But there are some situations where kids don’t want the run-around. They want you to tell them what kind of story they are living in right now. So I sat down and fired back this response that... Read more
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