Happy Thanksgiving Ya’ll. We’ve taken a moment out of our busy prep to reminisce about childhood thanksgivings, give offensive advice about how to cook your turkey, and to indulge in a little food shaming. It’s what the holiday is for and I think you’ll be grateful that we made the effort. I haven’t had a lot of time, as usual, to read the internet, but in a stroke of providence, Stand Firm is back! It relaunched quietly over the weekend. There... Read more
One of the loveliest and simplest materials in my youngest Sunday School room is the Cosmic Cross. A map of the world is shellacked onto a wooden board and a cross shape is cut out. I’m not good at describing these sorts of things. Here is a picture instead. The catechist can lift the golden cross off so that the world lies bare and ask, “I wonder what it will be like when everyone in the whole world recognizes... Read more
How I feel when anyone mentions “self-care.” This has been a long week—long because everything was discombobulated in one way or another. Eglantine’s two pins that are supposed to be holding her elbow in place have both become only superficially, thank heaven, infected and the bone has moved ever so slightly in a way that nobody likes. So we are on a new wound care routine as well as facing down a hefty antibiotic three times a day. As with... Read more
Bonus #8: He loves the internet as much as you do. Matt destroyed my peace this morning by sending me this, and then, as usual, posting it on facebook for its outrage factor. Basically a really kind and lovely Christian man takes issue with the claim made by many other Christians that their spouses are their “best friends.” He frames it this way, Several years ago, if you asked me whether my wife is my best friend I would likely... Read more
It’s time for a new category on the side. In my restless search for ridiculous things on the internet, I never thought I’d find something so perfect, so wonderful, so designed for my own happiness. No no, it’s not Kanye or Chic-Fil-A. And yes, Epstein didn’t kill himself. No, this is more wonderful than all those things. And because of it, I’m starting up Witless Wednesdays—a whole day for those enchanting inconsistencies, hypocrisies, and decadences that make modern life what it... Read more
I’ve only been to Chick-fil-A once in my life, or maybe twice, and wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be experiencing, nor why I was supposed to be enthralled, so I want to go off the internet highway of today into the byway of yesterday—that NYTimes piece about why people aren’t having children any more. It is most interesting and you should probably read it, because the stats are dire, if not catastrophic. Basically, it doesn’t matter whether you... Read more
Is it Monday already? In observance of this kind of day we did up the usual podcast about when one should divide from other people and when one should call out people who are wrong publicly rather than gong to them in private. Matt is a lot more excited about it all than I am. Give it a listen! This is really funny. Binghamton is so cool. This is awesome. This is fascinating. It’s Fallmark! This looks delicious. Here is... Read more
The church year is wending its way to its inevitable close. As surely as the Christmas section in each and every commercial enterprise has so ballooned so that you have to trudge the long way around to avoid tripping over fake greenery and grotesque tinsel, the gospel readings have picked up their bleak, stark apocalyptic tempo. Today, Jesus, observing in those final days of his earthly life the temple and all its glory, stands back and pronounces his judgment—it will... Read more
This is my soul as I read the internet. Friday! Thank the Lord. I was going to do the seven books I’ve liked most this year, but I’m in the middle of a couple of good ones and I think I want to save it until I really have all the “data,” as it were. Instead, how ‘bout some controversy and trouble. One BU is in the news this morning. There was a political dust up, or whatever you might... Read more
Yesterday I ran into this article by Caitlin Flanagan over at the Atlantic. She always induces writer envy in me, so that I am both intimidated and jealous at the same time. It is a great piece and you should read it, but I hope you won’t agree with her conclusion. She takes a look at some of the deeply personal, emotional reasons that compel women to chose abortion, and some of the cultural pressures that make that choice seem... Read more
Preventing Grace
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