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Fooling Expectations
Suspense in action By the time the car pulls off the lot and drives down the road, I was more terrified than I had ever been by a movie. The beginning of Psycho had my guts wrestling my fast-beating heart for room in my throat. And yet nothing scary has happened yet at that point…
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Repent For Your Bad Driving
When people cut each other off in traffic, or pull out in front of others, we are always looking the other way. If it were a mistake or if they didn’t see you, they would try to correct, jerking the steering wheel or pleading for forgiveness in the rear view mirror. I don’t know how…
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Racism Is Not In Your Head
This week has been an auspicious week for racism. The strange, Saturday night acquittal of George Zimmerman, who admitted to the killing of Trayvon Martin, led the world to discuss the place of race in the criminal justice system. This was salt in the wound of those shocked by the Supreme Court’s gutting of the…
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Sweating It Out: celebrating the Eucharist in a hoodie
I had trouble sleeping Saturday night. I was angry. Angry that George Zimmerman wouldn’t be punished, for the fear that has beset the African American community, for all the bullshit post-racism talk of my white neighbors. Mostly, I was angry that I was feeling powerless as a church leader to express myself. It frightened me…
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A Sorta Hipster
Some might think I’m a hipster. Or at least I would be if I were ten years younger. That version of me would have been a total hipster. I have the right glasses for it. I have an obnoxious view of music and love both niche music from bands like mewithoutyou and Sun Kil Moon and catchy…
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Superman and Violence
Big title, short post. All this Superman talk reminds me of the Doomsday storyline from way back in which Superman is killed. As a strange attempt at selling books (which it certainly did), it revealed the problem of violence in comics, particularly for Superman. In Doomsday, Superman met an evil he could not prevent and…
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The scandalous character of ministry
The Lectionary did us no favors by jumping into Luke at chapter 7, skipping what I think are the two most important chapters in the whole gospel in 5 and 6. Smack in between the calling of disciples and the Sermon on the Plain is one of my favorite moments of Jesus’s. It is striking…
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Conan’s Inspiring Sendoff
I like Conan O’Brien. Certainly much more than Leno. And to be truly honest, Jimmy Fallon’s is the only “late show” I watch now. But these words, this send off to Conan’s last Tonight Show are prophetic. You should watch this. And if you have, then watch it again, because you need to hear them again.