Category: Religion
The Church Stays Relevant not by CONFORMING, but by REFORMING
Rob Bell was only pointing out what so many think is obvious in remarks that have caused Christians of all stripes to hurry to their ramparts. He offered his opinion on the Church’s “inevitable” about face...
Leave the Ashes On
There’s still ash on the back of my hand. The sign of the cross smells like campfire. For some reason it feels weird that Ash Wednesday reminds me of hotdogs and marshmallows and Tonka pies....
Ash Fall: The heat of Ash Wednesday
Ashes mean the end of something. A house burned down, a body cremated, a book torched, a fire dying low. Ashes come out of the flame, and flame means destruction. Destruction like a wooden city...
‘The seed of the Church’
Lifeless there, orange jumpsuited, sill warm with the boldness of dying well. Young men who went from desert to westward desert, from the very land where Christ himself was once a boy and a refugee....
The Crusades, Haters, and Skipping the Key Word
It’s amazing how some folks are more prepared to defend the Crusades than acknowledge that the President of the United States had a point. I’ve sat in years and years of history, political science, and...
Divided Loyalties: Christians Riding Bumper Cars
My undergraduate thesis was an attempt to tie together my majors, international relations and social psychology. I looked at identity (as a social psychological concept) among members of non-state actors (a popular category in IR)....
Scars
He showed me the spot where the bullet went in. It didn’t look exactly the way it looks in the movies. It looked webby, gnarly, like tree roots. It was a rise, not a depression....
Celebrate Christmas Again Today with Peace on Earth
Merry Christmas! If you’ve already taken down the tree, retangled the lights, eaten all the cookies, and unwrapped your newest gadgets, fear not; you can still celebrate Jesus’ birth without any of those things. In...
Just over 30 Pieces of Amazing Journalism from 2014
In 2014 I kept a running tab of the best pieces of news journalism and editorial I came across. “Best” should not be taken to mean it necessarily represents my views, only that it is...
It was a rough year, and that’s okay
Life is good. Silver light refracting in little Xs on the window. An ages-old sun still rolling and rising, like the stars never get tired. I just ate something with peanut butter in it and...