I’ve mentioned before that I occasionally opened our Midtown services with a welcome that reminded us of our identity as God’s gathered people.  Here’s one for Epiphany: Welcome to Midtown Christian Community. Today is called “Epiphany,” a term that means “to show” or “to make known” or even “to reveal.” In Western churches, this day is specially […]

Our Father in heaven, you guided the wise men to the worship of your Son by the light of a star.  Give us light, give us life, and draw us ever closer to you by the light of faith.  Enlighten and enliven our hearts to search after you just as they did.  Give us the […]

I just finished reading a Christmas gift: Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City, by Greg Grandin.  It’s a fascinating account of Henry Ford’s disastrous effort from 1928-1945 to establish a rubber-producing plantation in Brazil. It’s a tale of overpowering arrogance and presumptuous folly, but also of the impossibility of reigning in […]

Yesterday I wrote that one of the ways that capitalism hijacks the church’s imagination is by the introduction of values like efficiency into the life of the church. I do not mean that the church should embrace inefficiency in its corporate life and ministries.  There’s nothing good about wasting resources or misusing time and money. […]

A few weeks ago, referring to Daniel Bell’s book, I wrote about how the market dynamics of our consumer culture shape our vision of Christian discipleship. I noted the tendency of church leaders to analyze their communities in terms of “giving units.” Now, I can understand that this may appear to be a harmless and […]

U2’s 2004 album “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb” ends with “Yahweh,” which contains several Advent themes.  It’s a prayer of self-dedication that names the world’s broken condition and looks forward to God’s coming redemption. The album has a Scriptural shape, as does its predecessor, released in 2001, “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.”  Both […]

A familiar cultural script has been followed over the last week. Interrupting the program with “breaking news,” networks competing for the first images, interviews with eyewitnesses, outraged demands for change, speculations about mental health, interviews with policy experts, outpourings of sentimentality, ill-considered attempts to explain, special interest-funded officials making statements, conservatives blaming liberals, liberals blaming […]

Throughout the weekend, my thoughts kept returning to something Stanley Hauerwas wrote after September 11, 2001.  He said that the horror of that day “requires a kind of silence.” We desperately want to “explain” what happened. Explanation domesticates terror, making it part of “our” world. I believe attempts to explain must be resisted. Rather, we […]

*Originally given at Midtown Christian Community, Dec. 18, 2010 Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. […]

God our Father, you loved the world so much you gave your only Son to free us from the hated power of Sin and Death.  Help us, Father, as we wait for his return, and lead us to true freedom and life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son who lives and […]