Steve Robinson tells the Gospel with two chairs as props. Actually, he tells two versions. Continue reading “The Gospel in Chairs”
Category: Attitude
Indiana’s Marriage Amendment
The Indiana House yesterday passed HJR 6, an Resolution to amend the Indiana Constitution on the topic of marriage. I have misgivings. Continue reading “Indiana’s Marriage Amendment”
S.C.A. vs. E.O.
John 6:60-63, 66 (MSGV)
John 6:60-63 Therefore, many of His disciples, when they heard this, said “This is a hard saying; who can uncerstand it? When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you?” What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? Anyway, I was just jerkin’ around with you with that “eat my body, drink my blood” stuff. It’s all figurative. Y’all know, don’t ya, that Christianity will be all about angels’n’feelin’ good about yourself? … From that time, many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. (More Spiritual than God Version) Continue reading “John 6:60-63, 66 (MSGV)”
Milk, meat, mystery
I’m reminded this morning, by a daily reading from the Orthodox Lexicon, how much I’ve always loved the Epistle to the Hebrews and how much one passage used to puzzle me. Continue reading “Milk, meat, mystery”
2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010. It delivered me a few surprises. I’ll let the stats helper monkeys speak and then comment a bit after that: Continue reading “2010 in review”
You can’t make this stuff up
I recently stumbled upon a fundamentalist site, so absurd that it has lingered with me, explaining “why the Apocrypha isn’t in the Bible.” It’s absurd as any patent circular “reasoning” is absurd: the Apocrypha isn’t in the Bible, in substantial part, because it teaches false doctrine. And how does one discern false doctrine? By seeing if it’s in the Bible. Continue reading “You can’t make this stuff up”
Hymns from the Matins of Nativity
All the hymns of the Orthodox Church are remarkably rich theologically, especially in paradox and in typology. Rarely does one get the sense that the hymnographer is trying directly to play on the hearer’s emotions; any emotional “uplift” comes from contemplation of the holy mysteries evoked by the hymns.
Stopping START
Republicans in Congress and the conservative movement are capable of dissenting from bipartisan foreign policy consensus, but only when it would be the most foolish and harmful to do so. Bipartisan consensus on foreign policy is very often destructive and dedicated to shoring up U.S. hegemony through countless commitments that we can’t afford and shouldn’t be trying to maintain. This consensus has endorsed dangerous policies from invading Iraq to expanding NATO to isolating and antagonizing Iran, and on all of these Republicans in Congress and movement conservatives have largely been reliable supporters. We can expect that they will continue to rally behind such policies in the future, because they are exercises in American power projection, because they are confrontational, and because they are incredibly short-sighted and reckless. Continue reading “Stopping START”
The Summons of the Star
Father Jonathan Tobias at the Second Terrace blog appears to appreciate Auden’s For the Time Being, too. Here, he quotes and comments on passages that I savored, but that I don’t think I passed along or commented on earlier this Nativity season: Continue reading “The Summons of the Star”
Tipsy Teetotaler ن 