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A glimpse of the Republican Alternate Universe
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2 min read
There’s not believing something because it seems so wrong. There’s not believing because the wrong keeps happening. There’s believing because of precedent. And then there’s not believing again because the precedent is just too much. Tuesday night, the scales were tipped into lala land. After eight Republican debates, we have now found a list of…
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Phew! At least nobody got mauled…
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2 min read
So a guy lets loose 56 exotic animals, including lions, tigers, grizzlies, and wolves in Zanesville, Ohio, near Columbus. This no joke. This is a true story. He kept extremely dangerous animals. At home! In a cage! Bengal flippin’ tigers! So the guy lets them loose, cuts the cages to keep anyone from getting them…
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Finding the Perfect Scam
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4 min read
It’s Stewardship Season, the time of year most dreaded and hated by Episcopalians and other Mainliners because we are terrible at asking for money and even worse at reminding people that they promised to give money. So we are always on the lookout for the best system that will do the work for us: the…
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8 Keys to engaging pre-teens in church
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6 min read
I wrote a while ago about engaging children in church. Now I’m tackling that in-between age: the pre-teen. First off, I don’t intend to give a firm age range for this group. I think you know it when you see it. Your 9 year-old might be more teen-like than your 11 year-old. Parents of pre-teens struggle with…
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Monday Mixtape: the love song
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1 min read
Who among us hasn’t made a mixtape for someone they loved? Or at least were in love with at one point. It should come to nobody’s surprise that I’ve made a bunch of such mixtapes in my time and given them to…well, several…people. But, and this may sound cheesy, there is something about the mixtape for…
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Beyond Empire: giving to the emperor
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2 min read
Today’s gospel: Matthew 22:15-22 This is one of my favorite moments for Jesus. He has just been hammering at the Jewish leadership and attacking the relationship between the religious leaders and the empire. He chased the moneychangers and now they have all had enough. They’re coming to get him. So they bring a trap. A…
Make a New Normal
