2018-08-16T14:21:56-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

The picture above is not a picture of me celebrating Halloween. But here on the right is a picture of me not celebrating Halloween when I was 10ish. Because only pagans celebrate Halloween. Christians do Fall Festivals, “A Christ-centered alternative to Halloween.”* But I contend that Christians should celebrate Halloween. In fact, I think Christians should absolutely dominate Halloween. Before we move to why, I want to very briefly address the common arguments for why Christians shouldn’t celebrate Halloween so... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:56-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

The series finale of Breaking Bad was, in a word, perfect. I couldn’t be more satisfied – and that is saying something, seeing as my level of fanaticism for this show manifested in much real-world anxiety in the hours leading up to the final episode. In other words, this show matters to me. It carries deep significance. And its end carried the potential for deep disappointment (perhaps even a sad sort of TV disillusionment). Every since Ozymandias, I, along with... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:56-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

I was unable to post last week because of being sick, and, honestly, I’m not sure I would have been able to put together an intelligible piece anyway. The fact is, last Sunday’s episode, episode fourteen, was absolutely brutal. It was simultaneously the most magnificent hour of television I’ve ever watched, and the most horrible. It was, in the words of my friend Matt, like “experiencing your world collapsing around you, captured on film.” It was virtually unwatchable at times.... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:57-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

I’ve spent my entire life so far in the church, mainly evangelical churches of one kind or another. I’ve also spent the last ten or so years in active ministry in a few different church environments – conservative Baptist, missional church plant, and, now, mainline Methodist. And one hard lesson I’ve learned on this journey (among a whole hell of a lot of hard lessons) is that not all Christians are good people. In fact, some of them are really... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:57-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

As last night’s episode ended abruptly amidst a firefight between the family Todd and the DEA (i.e., Gomez and Schrader), my mind immediately went back to the future. To bearded Walt. You know, Walt at the diner in episode one of this season. Walt with the automatic weapons in the trunk. Walt at the start of this second half of season five – episode nine – entering the abandoned White residence, retrieving the ricin. These glimpses of the future help... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:57-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

Skyler White is on board. In what is decidedly a transitional fourth episode in the final eight of season five’s second half (whew), we see the character so often maligned on the interwebs for being Walt’s incorrigible adversary complete a full 180. The turn began in episode ten when Walt collapsed in a heap on the bathroom floor, his chemo-ridden body reacting to the exertion of burying barrels (literally) of money in the desert. There, Skyler uttered words we never... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:57-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

Do you have any idea what’s at stake in you understanding who you really are? When I was 12, my family moved from East Texas to Long Island, NY. What follows here is technically a book review – but really it’s more of a riff. Because Jonathan Martin’s first book, Prototype, has affected me in ways that few books have. There are meaningful, beautiful, wonderful books – and then there are meaningful, beautiful, wonderful books that arrive at such a... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:57-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

The Rolling Stones sang about sympathy for the devil. And in the manic teaser for next week’s episode of Breaking Bad – episode 12 – we hear the gravelly, strained, almost animal voice of Jesse saying, “Mr. White…he’s the devil.” For the last couple of weeks, I’ve primarily set my sights on the series’ protagonist (antagonist?), Walter White, and the question of his original sin. In what sense, really, did Walt break bad? Did he begin basically good and then... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:57-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

Oops, they did it again. The Gospel Coalition, that is. This time, it’s a post from Thabiti Anyabwile going above and beyond in confirming my perspective on the politicization of the neo-reformed around gay marriage legislation, creating something of a new religious right. And doing that, really, in the most base, tactless, and harmful way possible. I was going to type “carless,” which would also be true considering the potential negative impact this post could have on gay young people... Read more

2018-08-16T14:21:57-05:00

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm   By

But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. /1 Cor. 12:18 I was planning to write this long reflective piece about how it’s been one year since we closed our church plant, Dwell, and how, almost a year to the day after preaching my last sermon at Dwell, I preached a sermon at First United Methodist Church in Burlington and it was kind of heavy and emotional and... Read more

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