The Hopper

There is More to Christ's Life than His Death

2011-03-02T14:56:00.011-05:00

It seems to me that many Christians today place too much of an emphasis on substitutionary atonement, while at the same time not allowing other scriptural metaphors inform their theology of the significance of Christ’s incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Furthermore, there seems to be good scholarship that would point to the fact

Finding God in Pop Culture is Like…

2011-01-18T11:30:00.000-05:00

I’m reading a book that is subtitled, “Finding God in Pop Culture.” This comes in a long line of books geared towards “finding God in Pop Culture” such as: The Gospel According to Lost; Finding God in the Movies; The Gospel According to Oprah; Finding God at Harvard; The Gospel According to Starbucks; Finding God's Truth in TV's Reality; The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen; Finding God in

Thoughts on [not] Writing

2010-12-19T17:30:00.000-05:00

Public writing is frightening. There is an inherent honesty that underlies each sentence that conveys not only a thought, but also the thinker behind those thoughts. Often through writing we draw a window with words through which the world can look in, or out, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of humanity. But that is a frighteningly troublesome endeavor, for once the window is drawn people

Things in Their identity

2010-10-01T10:35:00.000-04:00

By Thomas MertonA tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying God. It ‘consents,’ so to speak, to God's creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree. The more a tree is like itself, the more

The Call of the Leader (whoever they should be)

2010-09-03T22:25:00.000-04:00

As I contemplated the relevance of Aristotle's observation that one of the worst forms of government is a democracy, I came to appreciate the significance of good leaders. As I contemplated Gustave Doré's etching of Merlin advising King Arthur, I came to appreciate the significance of good advisers and friends.Then I contemplated the leaders of Israel, particularly during the time of the judges,

The Crumbling Economy of Signs and Symbols: Part I

2010-07-26T16:34:00.000-04:00

Ever since the book Simulacra and Simulation, by the French cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard, made a cameo in the movie The Matrix, I have had a mysterious draw to read what was between its covers. Why is that, I suppose? Well, as I read this philosophical treatise, as well as several other works by this author, I came to realize that Baudrillard himself has an explanation for this mysterious

Translating Youth to Hear the Gospel

2010-05-12T08:10:00.000-04:00

Youth are flooded with a wide array of information that flows through the pipeline of television, internet, telephone, school, billboards, cell phones, iPods and Podcasts, to name only a few. Not only does the information flow through seemingly countless media, it also seems to come in equally numerous forms and at an alarming rate. Youth now have instant access in virtually any location to world

Random Observations #1

2009-04-29T14:38:00.016-04:00

I recently visited Christ’s Church United Methodist in New York whose beautiful construction and elaborate decoration was funded almost entirely by poor immigrants families during the Great Depression. I find it odd that these people would spare the expense of living in a more polished abode, so as to spare no expense for the shared space of the worshiping community. (The doors were unlocked)

Conjectures of a Guilty Youth Minister

2009-04-15T10:36:00.000-04:00

If I Were To Be Perfectly Honest“Why was Junior not at church last night?” “To be quite honest, Junior had a lot to do.” To be quite honest? Really? That’s about as ridiculous as you answering, “to be quite honest, he had a pulse, and that's why he couldn't come to church.” Thanks for being

Rush Limbaugh to Speak at Sojourners’ Mobilization to End Poverty

2009-04-02T11:13:00.003-04:00

This is an inspiring display of how even the most hard-hearted schlep can see the error of his ways in order to walk the path of compassion, mercy and love. So as the saying of Jesus goes, "I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Let us all take time to celebrate this beautiful conversion.

What's Your Story?

2009-03-13T17:51:00.003-04:00

“…liberalism can be characterized as the presumption that you should have no story other than the story you chose when you had no story. A society constituted to produce people who get to choose their stories[, however,] cannot help but be caught in perpetual double-think. For what it cannot acknowledge is that we did not choose the story that we should have no story except the story we choose

Reading Lord of the Rings Makes Me a Better Christian

2009-02-28T16:08:00.002-05:00

Something resonates deep within my soul every time a crack open the majestic book by J.R.R. Tolkien. It calls to me like the mysterious music of the Ainur that still lingers on the waves of the sea. I feel that it summons me to a higher life - a life of quality, excellence and grandeur, where friends share lives using the High Speech of Tolkien, or sacred scriptures, and within every twig or

Ash Wednesday 2009

2009-02-26T08:08:00.004-05:00

Lent: the last Christian season to be colonized by Hallmark and other trinket-making industries. It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m sure it will. It’s only a matter of time. First, they took Christmas from us. Then they took Easter with that ridiculous bunny and those disgusting Cadbury eggs. Then they moved on to snag All Hallows Eve. Next they started chipping away out our saints, like St.

On Writing

2009-02-17T10:11:00.000-05:00

Dylan Thomas on PoetryThese poems, with all their crudities, doubts, and confusions, are written for the love of Man and in praise of God, and I'd be a damn' fool if they weren't.Thomas Merton on Dylan ThomasDylan Thomas' integrity as a poet makes me very ashamed of the verse I have been writing. We who say we love God: why are we not as anxious to be perfect in our art as we pretend we want to

A Proclamation about the Proclamation

2009-02-13T11:25:00.003-05:00

By Frederick BuechnerWhen the preacher climbs up into the pulpit, switches on the lectern light and spreads out his note cards like a poker hand, maybe even the vacationing sophomore who is there only because somebody has dragged him there pricks up his ears for a second or two along with the rest of them because they believe that the man who is standing up there… has something that they do not

Some Christians Want Stimulus from the Government's Package

2009-02-10T16:50:00.004-05:00

I recently received an email calling for Christians to be scandalized and outraged. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity like that, I read on to find out that Former Speaker Newt Gingrich “feels that if Christian activists would have enough courage and holy anger to e-mail and call their representatives and senators.” Over what? Well, the current administration’s stimulus package has a

Praise Song for the Day

2009-01-20T18:51:00.010-05:00

Elizabeth Alexander Each day we go about our business,walking past each other,catching each other’s eyesor notabout to speakor speaking.All about us is noise.All about us is noise and bramble,thorn and din,each one of our ancestors on our tongues.Someone is stitching up a hem,darning a hole in a uniform,patching a tire,repairing the things in need of repair.Someone is trying to make music

Our Culture of Dysphoria

2009-01-15T16:11:00.009-05:00

The following post has been brought to you in part by: Click here to find out if Havidol® is right for you!What aspects of western dominant culture are the most insidious and pose the greatest challenge to the church? I often hear that it is evolution, gay rights, abortion, and the prevailing doctrine of "tolerance." Someone with more patience than me can wade through the ocean of

The Truth Project: Simply a Bad Way of Talking

2009-01-08T12:57:00.013-05:00

The more I listen to how the Truth Projects talks about truth, the more I come to realize that it seems they have an urge to separate truth from Jesus. Of course they proof-text that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, but they isolate verses that cast truth in the abstract rather than intimately connected with the incarnation (which in turn is intimately connected with the church).

The Truth Project?

2008-12-17T01:03:00.019-05:00

The people at Focus on the Family have launched a full-frontal assault upon an evil that lurks behind every corner that waits to suck the brains out of its next prey. This evil has many names, but Focus on the Family has dubbed this vile beast “postmodernism” (cue the creepy music). Apparently, the way the church is to live and dialogue within this postmodern “present” cultural climate is to dig

"What I wear is pants. What I do is live. How I pray is breathe." Thomas Merton

2008-12-13T08:22:00.000-05:00

Prayer begins with the inhale. Before we are able to utter anything with our lips we must first draw through them the air that fills us, enabling not only our speech but also our life. And we must remember that humanity did not take the first breath but that it was given to us. God’s exhale became humanity’s first inhale, filling us not only with life, but the ability to participate in the

Who Would You Be: Hitler or FDR?

2008-12-12T07:51:00.000-05:00

This made me laugh.Al Franken and Ann Hart Coulter were asked at the Connecticut Forum if they could be anyone in the previous century, who would it be. Ann Hart Coulter, since she apparently prefers to call people by their full names, employs some very interesting logic... so does Al.

Houses Built with Human Hands

2008-04-30T11:04:00.000-04:00

As I walked through Christ’s Church United Methodist on Park Avenue in Manhattan, I was struck with amazement by two converging facts: 1. This church was grand, beautiful and fostered an awareness that you stood in a space that had been hallowed for the public gathering of Christian worship. The doors were unlocked and anyone could wander in off the streets and dwell in this stunning space. 2.

Wine from these Grapes

2008-03-24T10:34:00.006-04:00

by Edna St. Vincent MillayWine from these grapes I shall be treading surelyMorning and noon and night until I die.Stained with these grapes I shall lie down to die.If you would speak with me on any matter,At any time, come where these grapes are grown;And you will find me treading them to must.Lean then above me sagely, lest I spatterDrops of the wine I tread from grapes and dust.Stained with

The Force That through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower

2008-03-20T22:55:00.003-04:00

Dylan ThomasThe force that through the green fuse drives the flowerDrives my green age; that blasts the roots of treesIs my destroyer.And I am dumb to tell the crooked roseMy youth is bent by the same wintry fever. The force that drives the water through the rocksDrives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streamsTurns mine to wax.And I am dumb to mouth unto my veinsHow at the mountain

Hand of God

2008-02-29T16:27:00.006-05:00

Auguste RodinThe power of this sculpture lies in Rodin's choice to leave much of the medium uncut and unpolished. Two figures intertwine in a loving embrace that culminates in a kiss that is immortalized in stone. All the while, the "hand of God" is the place where this sensual interaction is created. Again, the power of this piece is in its ambiguity. Love, beauty, and passion are at the

The Peace of Wild Things

2008-02-25T13:46:00.002-05:00

Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in meand I wake in the night at the least soundin fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,I go and lie down where the wood drakerests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.I come into the peace of wild thingswho do not tax their lives with forethoughtof grief. I come into the presence of still water.And I feel above me the

Ash Wednesday 2009

2008-02-25T07:55:00.002-05:00

New Depressant Drug about to Hit Market

2008-02-15T16:43:00.000-05:00

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Blurring Borders in a Nation that Fears Its Neighbor

2008-01-26T13:36:00.003-05:00

or, The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) Every year the National Wildlife Association faces the challenges of regulating the rules and guidelines of deer hunting. It seems that the prospect of getting that 8 point buck is so tempting that many hunters are willing to break the law in pursuit of this great prize.But back in 1942, something happened that caused a dramatic drop in deer

Prayer

2008-01-25T21:32:00.000-05:00

Louis UntermeyerGOD, though this life is but a wraith, Although we know not what we use,Although we grope with little faith, Give me the heart to fight—and lose.Ever insurgent let me be, Make me more daring than devout;From sleek contentment keep me free, And fill me with a buoyant doubt.Open my eyes to visions girt With beauty, and with wonder lit—But always let me see the dirt, And all

Wariness of The Truth Project

2008-01-03T13:53:00.006-05:00

Unlike my previous statement, I’ll try to ratchet back my sour tone. To be sure, I do not think the people at Focus on the Family are a bunch of ninnies looking to make an extra buck by pawning off clever lesson series on overeager churches willing to buy anything that glitters with their logo. They do care for the church and have rightly pointed out the need for the church to reconsider her

Book of Hours

2008-01-01T11:34:00.000-05:00

by Rainer Maria RilkeI love the dark hours of my being.My mind deepens into them.There I can find, as in old letters,the days of my life, already lived,and held like a legend, and understood.Then the knowing comes: I can opento another life that's wide and timeless.So I am sometimes like a treerustling over a gravesiteand making real the dreamof the one its living rootsembrace:a dream once

No Country for Old Men

2007-12-30T17:58:00.001-05:00

Synopsis and RecommendationThis movie is for anyone who might need a cheerful reminder of what W.B. Yeats describes as a blood-dimmed tide being loosed and everywhere the ceremony of innocence being drowned. Who is doing the drowning you may ask? The answer my friends is blowing in the air-powered cattlegun of Anton Chigurh. The passionate intensity of this man’s malevolence is second to none. He

Marriage As a Living Image of God's Character

2007-12-09T23:57:00.000-05:00

Delivered at the wedding of Emily Banks and B.J. Krug All love has its source in God’s love. All relationships are extensions of God’s relational character. We love because God loves. We nurture relationships with others because God nurtures a relationship with all creation. As God’s children, these two activities are in our blood. All life is wrapped up in love and right relationships things.Our

A Good Movie is Hard Defined

2007-12-05T18:38:00.000-05:00

Aristotle waxed eloquently on what it means to be good, as well as how to attain it. While the same rigorous process ought to be endeavored by someone to lay out what it means to be a good movie, that person is not me. However, I will briefly lay out my own criteria for evaluating a movie. The reason for these categories is that different movies a worth watching for different reasons. I

Socialism Meets Capitalism

2007-11-24T19:09:00.000-05:00

Chris Matthews finds a clip of delicious irony as multimillionaires come to Washington in their private jets to ask for a multimillion dollar handout. I don’t understand how so many Christians can assume the superiority of capitalism while simultaneously holding the conviction that socialism is evil to its core. Personally, I think that that they both can be employed and lived out in such a

International Relations?

2007-11-24T18:44:00.000-05:00

I thought this was an interesting clip. Bush is at the the G20 summit with other world leaders and while everyone else is shaking each other's hands, he passes by like an ex-husband.

Ulysses

2007-03-28T17:02:00.000-04:00

Alfred, Lord Tennyson It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel; I will drink Life to the lees. All times I have enjoy'd Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on

Wine from These Grapes

2007-03-24T10:37:00.003-04:00

Ash Wednesday

2007-02-21T10:44:00.002-05:00

It’s about at this time of year when we become disgusted with ourselves for not being able to maintain our New Years Resolution… again. It is so frustrating to continually go through the cycle of failure, hitting rock bottom, wallowing in it for a while, wondering if there is any hope for us to be something other than we are. We then get the courage to get back up and try to overcome ourselves,

Blurring Borders in a Nation that Fears Its Neighbor

2007-01-26T09:09:00.000-05:00

Sailing to Byzantium

2007-01-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

by William Butler YeatsIThat is no country for old men. The youngIn one another’s arms, birds in the trees—Those dying generations—at their song,The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer longWhatever is begotten, born, and dies.Caught in that sensual music all neglectMonuments of unageing intellect.IIAn aged man is but a paltry thing,A tattered coat