I was thinking about not blogging this week, what with it being Holy Week and all, and I’ve said everything there is to say on every subject in the universe, probably. But here I am, out of habit really. There were just a couple of things I’m sure you might be interested in. The first is the best and most beautiful book I’ve read this year (maybe even for years and years). I said something about it before, but that... Read more
Here we are in Holy Week, one that will probably be seared in my memory for all kinds of interesting reasons. To mark the occasion we’ve done up a decently sized podcast about the goods and bads of coronavirus thus far. What will be some long term consequences? What is good right now? What is bad right now? How to prepare for many more months of “badness.” It’s all here for you! Hope it makes you feel ok about reality,... Read more
I happened to cut my gum yesterday, while foolishly trying to floss my teeth. The age of coronavirus has shattered me enough that I finally started doing something I should have habituated myself to 40 years ago. I ended up leaning far over my tub, weeping, cursing myself and the darkness, blood flowing out of my mouth. Then I wondered how much blood Jesus would have had dripping out of his. He was struck so many times. He probably had... Read more
Doesn’t really matter what day it is, as all days are alike now. I think the one thing that’s been lacking during this exceptional time is that I haven’t given enough advice. So, I thought today I would remedy that today by giving you 7 pieces of advice for surviving your current social isolation. I know we’ve all been at it for a few weeks (who even knows) and we have no idea when it will all be over (hopefully... Read more
Jesus pondering what Mr. DeBlasio thinks about Christian Doctrine Now that coronavirus is our regular life now, and the shock of staying inside and the anxiety about death shines with the lustrous boredom of normality. There’s plenty of time to worry about more important things. As the apocalypse wends its weary way along, here are three things for your Thursday. The First Thing Well how about that, Samaritan’s Purse is setting up a tent hospital in Central Park and Bill... Read more
I’m over at Stand Firm today, talking about Jesus. **************************************************************************** In this new age of coronavirus, I thought I would toddle over to Time.com and do the bold, terrible thing of gently disagreeing with NT Wright, who, we must all acknowledge, is much much smarter than me, and who has reams and reams of published work to prove it. Whatever you think about his new perspective on Paul, and his scholarship about justification, I think we can all agree that he... Read more
I don’t know about anyone else, but my Facebook feed is full of Masterclass advertisements, more than ever. Perhaps because Facebook knows that I, along with the world, am sitting at home wishing I could avoid wasting the long stretch of time before me, but also hoping that I won’t pick up a book and learn something, but will keep scrolling and then maybe spend some money. Just because you’re stuck at home doesn’t mean someone somewhere can’t make a... Read more
Well, here we are again, another week inside, another week trying to sort out church when we can’t all be together. We faced down the beast and talked about what to do about communion, and some of the theological and doctrinal issues surrounding this dicey subject. Also the garbage truck drives by, of course. As usual, I don’t have a ton of links because I’m tired of reading and thinking about covid-19. Here is a helpful article about Anglicans and... Read more
I made the mistake of reading this fascinating twitter thread in the wee hours, after also trying to understand what the BillieEilishIsOverParty hashtag was all about. The internet is so strange—the bizarre mashup of millions of people’s thoughts and feelings scrolling by, a vast stream of would-be life. Meanwhile, the worldwide coronavirus ticker mounts and more of the map turns bright red. I am not the first person in human history to survey the landscape and think about death—the lections... Read more
I finally finished going through that First Things article this morning over at Stand Firm. Check it out! *********************************************************************************************** It’s an interesting exercise to ponder this article several days away from its publication. I wrote about it on Tuesday. You can read it all over again but probably best not. It took me 1500 to react to the first paragraph. So let’s see if we can get through the rest in the same number. Mr. Reno posits that the whole world shutting down... Read more
Preventing Grace
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