Booooooooring

I think the truth, the scary truth, is that we look at our ordinary lives, our ordinary families, our ordinary cars, our ordinary houses, our ordinary town, and we are frightened by what we see; or rather, we're frightened by what we don't see—something extraordinary. We are nothing special, nothing worth noting. If we died tomorrow, would anyone outside our small extended families notice or care?

Out of Control

Advent reminds us that we can't stop wars from happening, that we can't prevent people from murdering other people, that we can't cure every disease, that we can't prevent every suffering, that we can't prevent every (or any) natural disaster. Like when we witness a hurricane or a tornado tearing through our feeble human-made constructions, Advent is a time when we are humbled by the fact that so very, very little is really in our control.

Christ the… King?

The sign on his cross reads, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” That sign was meant to be a bit of extra mockery, a warning to the people about what happened to those who claimed lordship over the land. It was meant to degrade the notion of a king, to dash the hopes of the proud and to bring sorrow to the oppressed. It was meant to say, “This man is no king."

Everywhere, Everywhere, Everywhere

We grieve and mourn with all of those who lost loved ones in the attacks in Baghdad, Beirut, and Paris. We grieve and mourn with refugees fleeing violence and death in their countries, looking for anywhere at all that might be safe. We grieve and mourn with everyone in our own town who suffer daily with needs as basic as food. And as we grieve, we cry out, “How long, Lord? How long?”

A Partnership Dies Too Soon

Today, the sixteen-year partnership between Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Bexley Hall Episcopal Seminary came to an end when the Board of Directors of the Bexley Seabury Seminary Federation voted unanimously to terminate the ecumenical relationship between the seminaries and move all of BSSF's operations back to Chicago. BSSF says it's for the best. Trinity hasn't … Continue reading A Partnership Dies Too Soon