The Season of Lent begins this Wednesday.  Here’s a brief explanation of how this season shapes Christian identity. The Christian calendar helps to train us in being fully and truly Christian.  Many of us are used to having our brains trained to be Christian brains.  We just haven’t given much thought to our bodies and […]

Father, we praise you for showing us your love in Jesus. We praise you for making us your children. When we were your enemies, you didn’t sit back and plan our destruction. Your heart was broken at our brokenness. You strategized and schemed, because you are love, to save us, to redeem us; to give […]

Gary Carter died yesterday at the age of 57.  Carter played catcher for the Montreal Expos, who were actually really good when they had players like Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, and Carter in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  They made it to the National League Championship Series in 1981, but never returned and eventually […]

I love the narrative of John 9.  It represents, to some extent, the dynamic I wrote about yesterday.  A consensus opinion, a conventional way of seeing things, is upended and overturned by a new angle of approach. The conventional thinking among the characters in the story marginalizes the broken and needy, reinforcing corrupted patterns of […]

I’ve been thinking lately about the nature of convention and consensus.  Sometimes the best way of doing things is the conventional way.  And it’s often the case that the consensus opinion is the right one. But not always. Jeremy Lin didn’t fit the conventional mold of a point guard, or even of a basketball player […]

Jeremy Lin is the latest sports sensation, coming out of nowhere to spark the Knicks to five straight victories.  It’s been a blast to watch, especially because he’s a great kid who’s having loads of fun.  The Knicks were terrible this year, and with their two stars out, it was going to get worse. The […]

*A homily, given at Midtown Christian Community, Feb. 2, 2008 O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory […]

We prayed this for Springfield last year during an Epiphany prayer service (find it here).  You can adapt it as you pray for your town or city. Lord, we pray for the flourishing of Springfield From you, O Lord. We pray for the lasting peace of this city From you, O Lord. We pray for […]

I love Paul’s little letter to Philemon.  There’s far more there than you’d think and it’s easy to pass it by without giving it too much thought.  It’s likely a crispy page in many Bibles! As I said the other day, this is how I’d translate Paul’s prayer report in v. 6: “I pray that […]

Who is this Yankees player and why is he a cautionary tale for a current New York athlete? First person to get it right wins a copy of Daniel Kirk’s wonderful new book, Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? Update: We have a winner! My old friend Chris Coyle got the two-parter.  It is indeed […]