• Peyton Manning: that savior?

    While doing my annual obsessive consumption of the NFL Draft, I came across this interesting article about the new Denver Bronco, Peyton Manning’s role as mentor to the rookie quarterback the team just drafted. What struck me while reading it is the tone of the second half of the article: Manning is in Denver to win,…

  • The one about the good shepherd

    a Homily for Easter 4B Text: John 10:11-18 “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus says. What a great line. The good shepherd. Not at all like the badones, the ones that run away. Or don’t know anything about their sheep. A good shepherd. One that protects the flock. It is a message that speaks even to…

  • An Overly Simplistic Description of Race in America

    Considering all the overblown rhetoric about how post-racial we’re supposed to be, I thought a short description of how post-racial we actually are, and how post-racial we could be, might be useful. Our society is post-racial We actually do live in a post-racial society, if by society we actually mean culture. The pervading culture is…

  • On Baptizing My Son

    On Baptizing My Son

    We often speak of being “off duty” when not at work. We speak of our work days and the double lives of “work me” and “real me”. For the presbyter, there is no such distinction. Or at least there shouldn’t be. The toxic effects of split roles in ministry are numerous. So for clergy, there is…

  • Sharing the Story

    a Homily for Easter 3B Text: Luke 24:36-48 Was it Real? This is our third Sunday in Easter and our third different resurrection story. We had Mark’s open-ending with Mary, Mary, and Salome running away in fear with instructions to bring the Good News to the rest of Jesus’s followers. We had John’s story of…

  • Ethics in the Zombie Apocalypse

    [SPOILER ALERT: This post contains Season 2 spoilers of The Walking Dead. I’m not kidding. Seriously important ones. If you have any interest in enjoying this show, stop reading, bookmark this page, and come back later. Otherwise, read away. Chris and Emily, you are absolved.] The second season of The Walking Dead revealed the most important ethical quandry…

  • Why I Don’t Preach Daily Living Sermons

    If you’ve been around the church, you know there are many different genres of sermons. With names like “biblical” and “narrative,” we are often asked to classify and name our preaching style. My own style falls into several categories, but I’m pretty sure there is one it does not: the “daily living” sermon. I’ve been…

  • The Postmodern Condition: Blame Must Be Shared

    The Postmodern Condition: Blame Must Be Shared

    I watched a TED Talk a couple weeks ago that included a simple picture. The speaker began talking about distraction, because the picture, like the one I’ve provided below, demonstrated what he meant about distraction. The original picture was of a Dad at the park and he was playing with his smart phone while the…