Fire in our Bones
When someone you love is unjustly accused, doesn’t it make your blood boil?
Laughter in the Bible
In the Bible, laughter is no laughing matter—except in this unique story from Genesis.
The Ruler of the USA
Greetings, Merry Mystics!
Here’s an American success story—with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan.
Bright blessings,
Adam
Tolstoy Sunday
This Sunday, instead of a sermon, we had some writings and a short story (“The Three Hermits”) by a most unusual Christian: Leo Tolstoy.
On Magnifica Humanitas
Reflections on the recent papal encyclical concerning artificial intelligence.
Cracked Song
Greetings, Merry Mystics!
My seminary was the Earlham School of Religion. I’m so glad I found it—or it found me. I had a great experience there, and I would recommend ESR to anyone who’s thinking of seminary studies.
But what draws students to seminary studies in the first place? My classmates and I spent quite a lot of time trying to explain, to ourselves and to each other, why we were there. I’m not sure any of us came up with an entirely satisfactory answer at the time, but here’s one that’s true for me now.
Bright blessings,
Adam
P.S. I wrote this back in 2017; this is a slightly updated version.
Cracked Sermon
My sermon for Pentecost: a world of the cracked will be saner by far.
News Flash! Love Is Not Transactional
God’s lovingkindness and forgiveness are not granted in exchange for value received; they’re freely given. And so should ours be.
TDS Talking
Greetings, Merry Mystics!
Another little political song today. There’s a lot of spoken word in this one. (I’ve been thinking about Gil Scott-Heron’s classic from 1971, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”)
When I first heard people accusing their political opponents of TDS, it seemed to be just a humorous put-down. More recently, though, it seems to be a serious attempt to classify political dissent as mental illness. Last month, in a Justice Department court filing, they accused the National Trust for Historic Preservation of suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly referred to as TDS.” And when I posted this video on Facebook, more than one comment insisted that TDS is a real mental illness, and I shouldn’t be making fun of it!
The Extraordinary Consciousness of Mutual Indwelling
How can we achieve the unity for which Jesus prayed—and what is “mutual indwelling,” anyway?