Gaudete Sunday after the Sandy Hook school shooting
How do we celebrate Gaudete Sunday, which means Rejoice Sunday, after the Sandy Hook shooting? By following the counsel of today's reading and looking to what's true and honorable, like teacher...
View ArticleThe difference between Santa, God, Spiderman and the Spanish Inquisition
This Venn diagram explains the difference between Santa, God, Spiderman and the Spanish Inquisition. :-)
View ArticleSanta and God Don’t Keep Naughty Lists
One of the things that has always bothered me about Santa as a childish God archetype is the naughty list. A god that keeps a naughty list and withholds love and gifts based on it is a model of God...
View ArticleA beautiful rendition of Ave Maria sung by Jewel
A beautiful rendition of Ave Maria sung by Jewel -- not a Christmas carol but widely adopted into the holiday sacred music repertoire.
View ArticleHappy Festivus! Now about that Airing of Grievances…
Festivus, celebrated on December 23, is the ultimate postmodern holiday. It's ironic not only in how it's executed but in its very inception. It's a sarcastic spoof of family holidays, with a bitter...
View ArticleMerry Christmas, Baby — from Christina Aguilera and me [VIDEO]
Here's an early Christmas gift for you: the best voice in popular music, Christina Aguilera, with the most amazing vocal of her career, and it's a Christmas song! Whether you like pop or not, you will...
View ArticleA Christmas sermon: Bright Blooms Dark Night
What is the radical truth that pulls us back to the Christmas story again and again? The Christmas sermon from my pastor, Emily Scott, at St. Lydia's.
View ArticleClaudio Monteverdi’s Christe Redemptor — Merry Christmas!
My favorite recording of my favorite piece of music: Claudio Monteverdi's Christe Redemptor -- Merry Christmas!
View ArticleMy response to “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” named one of Busted...
Busted Halo named my response to Jefferson Bethke's viral video "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus" one of their "Best of 2012." The conversation continues.
View ArticleDo Not Start Fresh for the New Year
There is a New Year's lie that, just like hanging a fresh calendar on the wall, we too can start over. Make a resolution. Decide that this year will be different. Somehow reset our lives and start...
View Article“A person who sings prays twice”
St. Augustine is credited with saying, "A person who sings prays twice." Beautiful music itself is prayer, and when wedded to words of praise the result is a foretaste of the new Earth to come...
View ArticleStruggling with resolutions doesn’t mean you’re failing, just human
I haven't been doing my exercise, but does that mean I'm a bad person? Does it mean I've failed? No, it means I'm human. New Year's is the biggest swearing-off ritual around. But all too often the best...
View ArticleCome, and you will see
My latest reflection in Living Faith: Jesus said, "Come, and you will see." If a stranger comes and sees how you live, will they be attracted? Will they see a life based in love? Read the rest...
View ArticleEpiphany and the Magi
For Epiphany, a retelling of the magi story from the perspective of the magi.
View ArticleMy first 100 posts
My Patheos blog is only five months old, so a "Best of 2012" would be a bit much, but I've done exactly 100 posts, which is a good reason to pause a moment and look back.
View ArticleThe Selfishness of Being Late
I talk frequently about the spirituality of being on time, and a lot of the feedback I get is about how eye-opening it is to realize you are bothering others. So let me focus a little more sharply on...
View Article7 Questions to Ask Yourself When You’re Late
If you tend to be late for things, the best way to change -- the only way to change permanently -- is to change interiorly. Here's a tool that might help. When you are late, reflect on these 7...
View ArticleBritain’s Leading Evangelical Steve Chalke Endorses Same-sex Unions and More...
Britain's most prominent evangelical, Steve Chalke, has publicly thrown himself and his entire megachurch organization behind same-sex unions, and acceptance of homosexuals generally, insisting his...
View ArticleMy Sermon on the Sermon on the Plain (my first sermon!)
I'd like to share my first ever sermon, preached recently at St. Lydia's, on the Sermon on the Plain -- the lesser known parallel to the Sermon on the Mount -- in which I attempt to outline the core of...
View ArticleA few thoughts on Benedict and the next pope
It's fun to speculate about who will be the next pope. But normally there's a bit of a taboo about that because you are talking about the current pope dying. Not this time. By resigning Pope Benedict...
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