…For the several centuries after Pentecost, Christians shared the peace of Christ with one another by sharing a holy kiss, following the plain instructions of scripture (Rom 16:16, 1 Cor 16:20, 2 Cor 13:12, 1 Thess 5:26, 1 Peter 5:14). At the part of our service called “the passing of the peace” men exchanged a kiss, usually on the cheek, with one another and women did the same…
Read moreWhen a parishioner leaves your church on good standing because of a move
…I want to consider those situations which have become among us more and more common as modern society has become liquid and transitory: parishioners leaving a parish due to a work-related or family-related move…
Read moreThe Cross is the heart of the world
p/c: Laura Allen
Reality is cruciform. It takes the shape of the Cross.
Read moreThe Good Shepherd gives shepherds
p/c Greg Roesnke
Yesterday was Good Shepherd Sunday on the liturgical calendar. To summarize the gospel lesson: Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His Life for the sheep (cf. John 10). Jesus does not invent this image in John 10, it is an image he fulfills given in the prophets…
Read moreStories about The End of the World
I started watching Waterworld (1995) yesterday. My takeaway? Our apocalypses betray us.
Read moreThe science fiction of Gene Wolfe
Taking a few days off after Easter I began a long-hungered for read: The Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe.
Read moreAll love leads to a tomb
The immature and self-orienting love of Romeo and Juliet leads them to a tomb, and later their kinsfolk join their corpses in the crypt and weep. Thier unbridled affection has dealt more death than all the ancient duels between Montague and Capulet. It ends both family lines by cutting off both house’s heirs. Though it had promised to endure forever, worldly love leads us to the grave.
Read moreThis is the true magic
So also this week when you hear it said “let us remember,” as you most certainly will hear it said often during these holy days, it means more than merely “replaying” the story of Jesus in your mind or on the stage at church. It means being drawn into the covenant enacted by the story. The Gospel of Jesus, Holy Week, is a living thing. It incorporates our stories into itself. It saves us. It heals us. In it the Spirit renews us. By it the Kingdom is re-kneaded into the dough of the world (cf. Matt. 13:33).
Read moreWhy are we wearing blue to the Feast of the Annunciation?
In the Church’s calendar there exist a set of feast days in which Mary, the mother of Our Lord, plays a leading role. And while among this number there are those that vary from tradition to tradition (Lutheran, Roman, Eastern, etc.) a solid handful are so ecumenical, so “everywhere-by-everyone-in-every-age”, that the burden of proof lies on those who would contest their place in Our Calendar.
Read moreThoughts on burnout
Chronic fatigue is the steady state of us moderns. We are always tired. Of what, though? Few of us labor the long hours of our forebears or people in other parts of the world —we’re not baking bricks, we’re all pharaohs now. Entertainment and luxury industries have accelerated the rate at which we have access to leisure goods. We live longer, have more stable health-care systems, and wider access to food and water, generally speaking.
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