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Up one levelPrayer for the Celebrity's Purgatory
Friend and colleague Maurice Frontz composed a poem this week as a response to the news of the death of Michael Jackson. He has given permission for me to submit it as a guest column in this space...
The Economy
Let me make a confession. I have been apprehensive about addressing the current economic crisis/situation/correction in my preaching, writing, and teaching. I imagine this lack of confidence is influenced by my unfortunate lack of theological reflection on the complex economic currents of our time. I don't know if this is because very little is written on the subject, or because I have not been paying attention. Regardless, what we learned this past year is that even the experts who are managing our money and the economy aren't that great at predicting or explaining, let alone controlling it. Although many wanted to convince us we were on a steady pattern of growth and wealth-building, it took less than a year to completely dispel this illusion. If the experts have failed us (not to mention stolen from and abused us), how can a pastor have anything meaningful to say?...
Incommensurable Horizons?
Tuesday evening, November 4th, was a happy day in our household. We watched with increasing joy as the election returns came in, and when the television news sources suddenly called the election around 10 p.m., we started dancing around the house, joyous and crying. We watched in quick succession the gracious concession speech of Senator John McCain, and then a bit later, the election speech of now president-elect Barack Obama. I felt proud of our country, and hopeful. I tend to think Obama becoming president will improve the conversation about race in our country and in the world. It will benefit the middle class and poor. It will mean better international relations in a global community. I could go on...
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
The other evening, as I was preparing our two-year-old son for bed, it occurred to me that the Gospel Canticle for Compline makes a great bedtime prayer. So I sang it for Samuel. As I started chanting, he looked at me, somewhat perplexed. But then, he started this kind of drone humming accompaniment that sounded a bit like chant, so we went with it...