I love that song. I chose to sing it for today’s sermon a long while ago, before I knew either that COVID-19 would break out, or that last week's reading was Psalm 23....
A famous psychological study in 1999 asked participants to watch a brief video of two groups of people passing basketballs —some dressed in white, some in black. The participants were instructed to count the passes among the players dressed in white. The correct answer...
Maundy Thursday 2019 | Exodus 12:1-13, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Egyptian Book of the Dead spell 42
Last year I stayed at an Airbnb managed by an elderly woman who, when she found out I was a Christian, eagerly said that she was too. I quickly figured out that what she me...
The letter from St. Paul that we just read a portion of was written to the Christians in the city of Phillipi. It is clear from this letter that Paul has a lot of affection for Philippi, where one of the earliest gentile...
REFORMATION SUNDAY | Ps 46; Rom 3:19-28; Jn 8:31-36
I’ve been teaching spiritual direction for more than fifteen years, now. Most of my students arrive on their first day thinking they’ll learn a set of skills, then they’ll go forth and use those skills. And…they’re not...
It was 1540 the first time members of the Cherokee Nation saw Europeans, an expedition commanded by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Luckily for the tribe, the expedition was just passing through.
But as the years passed, they and other Cherokee tribes did not fare as...
One of my greatest heroes is Charles Williams—I’ve preached about him before, and no doubt will again. I never visit Oxford without visiting his grave. He was a ground-breaking writer who single-handedly invented the urban...
When I first started to study Buddhism seriously, one of the most difficult concepts to wrap my head around was the cultivation of indifference. This is often the way the Pali word “upekkha” is translated, and it has caused...
As many of you know this summer Lisa and I went to Eastern Europe for our vacation. We were looking forward to seeing Prague, Vienna, and Budapest, and those cities did not disappoint. The wildcard of our trip was Sarajevo. We were only going...
