Happy Birthday, Church

We are not a tradition that typically references the liturgical year, so when Robby got up to provide our Communion Prayers and began with about a minute of French, there were few of us able to interpret the event.* Today is Pentecost Sunday. Bravo, Robby.
Pentecost is the end of the Easter season, and I love [...]

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“Nothing but Star Wars. . .”

And, Hey!
Darth Vader in that black and evil mask:
Did he scare you as much as he scared me?
Yeow!*

This weekend is the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.** My first Star Wars experience is one of my most vivid childhood memories. It was bed time, but instead of being tucked in, I went for a drive with [...]

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Closing Ceremonies, Links-o-rama 2007

And, in conclusion, (insert orchestral explosion and ice skating foam-animal-mascots-with-fountains-of-sparks-spraying-in-their-wakes here):
Here are my dearly loved and heavy historied friends, the Schribers. I highly recommend reading their story, and sending them thousands of dollars in support. This is likely the only website with the intriguing tag-line, “A family serving Jesus Christ through aviation technology.”
Scott is training [...]

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The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me

I’ve been a Pajiba reader off and on, and enjoy the unusually smart and fair-handed “Jesus, etc.” column editor Dan Carlson provides, on and off. Oh, and it’s also often hilariously on the mark. A few weeks ago, I added my name to a little group of same-church-traditioned bloggers, and, checking some of the other [...]

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Free Market Fundamentalism

If you haven’t seen it, Larry Flynt’s eulogy of Falwell is one of the most interesting I’ve read. I’m also kind of digging Hermits Rock, whoever those guys are.

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Endless walls and short pews

Rachel describes a remarkable image of the complexity of this war. [Editor's note: "absurdity" comes more naturally, but see hesitation below.]
When I read about social conscience among Churches of Christ in the 1960s, one of the sad complexities was responding to the political side of Vietnam while loving the actual people suffering the personal [...]

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Dialogue is the Mother of Self-Invention

In my pre-terminal-degree life, it was always interesting when people asked what I thought I would do for a living. I was eager to hear what I would say (I have a more standard line, now, although I say it with much more fear and trembling).
This kind of improvisational identity experience still surprises me from [...]

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You say tomato, I say suspenders.

Falwell has passed within a few weeks of Webber, both at 73. Both people whose incipient faith was nurtured by “fundamentalist” communities, both of whom I believe loved the church, as they understood it. But, wow, what a difference in the legacies they leave. I wish the media would take an interest in the one [...]

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Robert Webber

Robert Webber passed away a week ago today. His health had been poor for some time. Webber spent most of his career nurturing a sense of history, unity, and humility among Evangelicals. He contributed to a deeper appreciation for the mystery of Christ’s presence in the worshipping community, and the wide range of responses in [...]

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Life’s tough, kid.

I was looking for some new books for the young’un, and ran across this inspiring description (full description included):
Anna’s Corn
“Listen to the corn, Anna,”
Grandpa said. “It makes
its own kind of music.”
The music of the corn is beautiful to Anna, just like Grandpa’s raspy, [...]

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