The last couple of months have been quite busy, and between work, freelance projects and painting I have not had as much time as I normally would like to perusing the annals of the Board of Silly Walks. The Board of Silly Walks, of course, is my affectionate term for the General Board of Church…
read more
Everyone wants to be remembered. We realize the immanent approach of death- as much as we seek to deny or avoid it- and in this realization is birthed a longing for permanence, for a part of oneself to somehow live on beyond this vale of tears. This individual existence is brought to a crescendo in…
read more
Sometimes our world can seem a pretty ugly place. Sure, wars, brutality and other such devastations are immediately obvious, but even things like spiders and storms can make terrifying this place we have no choice but to call home. At times God can appear so near, and those moments often conveniently align with the events…
read more
As I am heavily involved in church marketing, I come across many of the different promotions, series and campaigns of various churches around the country. These can range from more traditional approaches to those that would be self-described as ‘edgier,’ whatever exactly that means. One interesting feature of church marketing is that the range of…
read more
Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (1 Corinthians 7:9) From time to time we are all vexed by the raging of…
read more
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Making sense of love is hard to do, and our race has spent itself in poetry and song,…
read more
As is no doubt evident from many of my other writings, I am a great admirer of St. Thomas Aquinas. I even ended up making a section in my library devoted to books by him, about him and those related to various extensions of Thomistic thought. The Dumb Ox, as he was nicknamed by his…
read more
The Harry Potter film series was pretty well done. Even though purists might balk at this, I found that every departure from the books in the film versions was an intelligent move and wonderfully improved upon the at-times convoluted plots. I was shocked, therefore, to come to the end of the The Deathly Hallows only…
read more
In Edgar Allen Poe’s classic work The Purloined Letter, detective Dupin is enlisted by the Prefect of Police to retrieve a stolen letter which is known to be in a hotel room, yet has remained undiscovered despite the police force’s best efforts. The Prefect returns to Dupin a month later, flabbergasted at his force’s inability…
read more
Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18 NIV) During the Holy Week interim between Good Friday and Easter Sunday it can feel…
read more
Every so often I come across articles like this around Easter time. While certainly not billed as a bit of reporting and also a couple of years old, the title struck me as the sort of link-bait for which the internet exists. The article appears in a section called Comment is Free: Indeed it is,…
read more
The decline of the church in Western culture is a much frequented topic in both religious and non-religious commentary. Whether parsed out in terms of diminishing influence or contrasted with the concurrent rise of the cohort affectionately labeled the Nones, there is an undeniable shift in the religious landscape which, although proceeding apace for the…
read more
Life is full of trouble and heartache, and the long march of the years can make our souls heavy-laden with grief. We thus liken such adversity to storms, knowing full well that sometimes they are soft spring showers, and other times tornadoes that uproot all we might hold dear. We might see the clouds gathering…
read more
The internet is at its best when it offers a forum for the robust interchange of ideas and information. But it is at its best-est when it offers a platform for bludgeoning one’s ideological opponents with infographics and flowcharts. Enter Slate’s entry into the arsenal of bad argumentation, How to Win a Climate Change Argument….
read more
In my previous post concerning the story about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah I stated that Lot is also the one who tries to play the system in Sodom, offering his daughters to the crowd instead of the strangers. Knowing what he is attempting to do, the crowd rebuffs this rather pathetic attempt at…
read more
I happened to catch a little bit of the premiere of the History Channel’s mini-series The Bible. The glimpses I stole were in between eating lasagna, savoring some tasty pie, playing Taboo and watching Megan open presents, so I cannot pretend my observations are completely valid. That will not, however, stop me from opining. As…
read more
The spammers have been getting more persistent lately, breaking down the normal walls that keep them out. Every day I find numerous comments flagged for approval, which generally merit only a glance before consigned to the nether regions of the inter webs. Fortunately, the robots have also been getting far more amusing, which is good…
read more
I recently finished up a project for rezlife student ministries entitled Double Dare, about boldly living out one’s faith. Process As with most of my projects, I like to come at the subject in an unexpected way if I possibly can. This particular series was not only about boldly living out faith, but also…
read more
The film Becket is one of my favorite. Although some of the historical revisions to render it fit for the silver screen are somewhat chuckle-worthy, the splendid acting, narrative and pathos exuded in the performance more than make up for such quibbling. It is also a repository of some rather memorable one-liners: Becket is the…
read more
Thinking about the Trinity is never an easy task; after all, trying to hold onto the unity of substance while simultaneously grasping the plurality of existence is enough to make one’s head spin. For when we consider an act such as creation, for example, the unity of substance requires us to maintain that such activity…
read more
Every so often I find myself feeling a bit down, and the variegated attempts of the internet to lift my spirits end in abject failure. Like the Marshmallow People who find that the magic flying otter doesn’t ever work, sometimes nothing helps. No, not even my face being pretty soft. In times like that, I…
read more
Of all the extant Christian mythstories, none is perhaps so pernicious as that involving the famed Galileo Galilei. For the modern mythmaker, Galileo’s trial and condemnation is often seen as the sine qua non of the inherent and irreconcilable conflict between science and faith. The mythstory makes for exciting drama: the brilliant and committed scientist…
read more
Clothes make the man, we are told, and this has probably been a constant throughout all of human history. The various textures and colors render an otherwise innocuous covering into a symbol of status or wealth. Even in the modern world we are pushed to get our clothes from certain designers, to express ourselves by…
read moreReading is important. But reading comprehension is even more important. Otherwise one can take missing the point to a new level. While most of us were unwrapping presents, polishing off the last of the egg-nog or returning unwanted items, a mini-furor erupted on the internets concerning Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks in address to the Roman…
read moreDuring the course of my daily internets reading I happened upon a link to a Business Insider article, itself a rehash of a Facebook post which is one of the more astonishingly stupid things I have read in the past week. Granted, it is only Tuesday and the week is still new, so there is…
read moreAnother year has come and gone, taking flight upon the winds of time to be seen no more. Even though 2011 was a fairly crazy experience, 2012 was even more exhilarating. The maelstrom of life pours its waves over one’s head, swirling in all of its beauty and rage, plunging the might-have-beens and wish-I-could-haves into…
read more
One of my friends linked to a an interesting presentation/symposium built around a graduate thesis of Esteban Perez-Hemminger entitled certifyD: the certification dialogue. While I an not disposed to view certification as a solution to any perceived problem in the graphic design industry (in the United States, at least), I felt it was worth the effort…
read more
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Stockings are filled with goodies, cups overflow with eggnog, and people embrace the spirit of peace and goodwill, assuming they have all the shopping done and don’t have to fight throngs of angry consumers trying to get that last minute item. Oh, and we celebrate that Jesus…
read more
The long-running Vaudeville act known as the Anglican Communion continues on its merry way, providing an inexhaustible supply of material for its detractors. The latest jaw-dopping exhibition was produced, directed and performed by Alison Taylor, the newly-appointed bishop of Melbourne, writing a defense of a gradualist position on abortion in response to the rubes who…
read more
From time immemorial humans have attempted to make sense of the seemingly mindless events of our world and our lives. Whether in the acts of nature which leave nothing but destruction in their wake or in the senseless wars that have a more sinister intent, this spinning rock appears forever teetered upon a precipice,…
read more
Recent Comments