Glimpses of the Sacred

Where is holiness to be found?

Where are the thin places

The fjords between

This shore and that Great Beyond?

Where is the fabric of reality

Most easily rent 

To reveal the Ultimate Reality

Behind the curtain of space and time?

My First Dark Night of the Soul

The year 2020 has been a Dark Night for so many people in many ways: Material, Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, Social. Since it is coming to an end today, I thought I would reflect on the very first time in my life of faith that I remember encountering a "Dark Night" of faith. 

All Yang no yin

Proclaim Hope and you are adored. 

Explain despair and you are ignored. 

Preach Meaning and be applauded. 

Examine meaninglessness and be criticized. 

The Beast Box: DIY Homemade Strongman Stone Simulator

For years I have wanted to create a homemade device that would simulate some of the heavy lifts that are popular in strongman competitions. Since I already have a selection of heavy barbells and dumbbells, it would seem like I would not need any other implements. And some strongman exercises, such as Farmer's Carries and Deadlifts and various kinds of Clean and Press movements, are fairly easy to duplicate with Dumbbells and Barbells. But other movements, such as the Husafell and other stone lifts, are impossible to simulate with even heavy barbells.

But I did not really want to purchase a $200-$700 metal stone simulator, such as the Titan loadable Atlas Stones, Husafell Simulator, or Husacross. They are expensive and single use. And if the steel gets dented or has a crease, it can easily create a nasty gash. Likewise, I did not want to mold my own stones, because they would be single use, non-adjustable, and take up lots of space (as well as time to make). Finally, while I like training with Sandbags, they are impossible to quickly change weights with. You have to pour them out, seal them up, and weigh them if you want to change weights.

So, basically, my design specifications included the following: I wanted something that was cheap; Something that I could make at home out of wood; Something that wouldn't rip my skin up; Something that offered a variety of hold and carry options; And something that was easily loadable for doing strongman conditioning work. So, after having the idea rattle around in my head for a couple of years, I developed the Beast Box. Here are the plans I created:

Durkheim’s Ghost

At this time of social distance, 

We need shared rituals 

Now more than ever

Even if they are shared 

At a distance 

Over an internet connection 

Or in a choppy livestream. 

.

In an age of 

Alacarte 

Individualized 

Atomized

Disconnected 

Consumerism

We have very few communal rituals 

To bind us together

To remind us

No one is an island

Separate from the main. 

.

And the ersatz rituals we do have

Seek to monetize us

Commodify the experience 

For passive consumption 

As a lifestyle product: 

A sportsball game 

A lackluster blockbuster

A concert of prerecorded audio loops. 

.

So let us embrace 

The communal

The collective

The old fashioned

The traditional

The ritual

The participatory 

As an act of resistance 

Against the totalitarian hedonism 

We are immersed in

And the nihilistic anomie 

It inspires.  

The Bodyweight Quotient -BWQ- A tool for lifelong lifting

Note: The material here has been incorporated and enlarged into my comprehensive Training Program and Principles, as well as my thoughts on the Spirituality of Physical Training. 

I first fell in love with lifting weights at age 12, when my dad enrolled me in a weight lifting course at our local community center. That followed with a summer in a non-air-conditioned hardcore gym near my mom's house on the coast. I was hooked. I felt awesome, I looked good, and I enjoyed the ability and resilience of my body. By the time I was 18, I was benching just less than 400 and squatting just less than 700. Weight lifting followed me through college football and into young adulthood.

Then, as often happens, life got in the way. Career. Marriage. Divorce. Marriage. Grad School. Child one. Job change. Child two. Move and job change. Child three. Keeping up with a busy family of five. I would hit the gym a few weeks a year. But for the most part, I lapsed completely, became very over weight, and generally uncomfortable in my own skin. Then, right before turning 40, and after my Dad was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes (like many others in my family), I decided I wanted to lose weight, and get in shape, and return to a habit that was as spiritually formative as it was physically helpful: Weight lifting.

A Textual Meditation on Theosis

This is mainly a collection of texts from across the first three centuries of the Church which speak about Theosis: Our destiny to be divinized by our Lord Jesus Christ working through the power of his Spirit, so that we may become godlike as Children of God. Theosis is typically an Eastern Orthodox way of describing salvation in Christ, but it is also taught under such ideas as Divinization, Deification, Apotheosis, Union with God, Communion, Sanctification, and even Glorification. While I have written several times about Theosis, I have never really made a catalogue of the main texts that inspire the concept. 

Noah's Flood and God's Justice

Lots of people have lots of questions about the flood of Noah in Genesis 6-9. Why did it happen? How did it happen? And who were those pesky Nephilim? I have answered many of these questions in another article. But another perennial question is how does the God of Wrath displayed in the Flood story relate to the God of Love seen in Jesus Christ. How can the evil of the Flood be justified in the light of the Goodness of God? Although I have touched on this in other articles on Divine Violence and Divine Sorrow, I would like to write more here on how the Flood connects with the larger problem of God and Evil.

On Grace and Faith and Works

There seems to be a great deal of interest and controversy parsing the exact position and proportion and progression of the roles of grace and faith and works in accomplishing and maintaining and completing our salvation. So what is the role of human effort in solving the human plight? Does salvation come entirely from God, or is human belief or action necessary to complete God's work of salvation? The Christian Scriptures offer perspectives such as the following:

Is a Politics of Life possible in a culture of death?

The LORD of Love is the God of Life. God’s Love is shown precisely in healing broken lives, and protecting vulnerable lives, and elevating endangered lives so they find abundant life. The Glory of God is humanity fully alive, and the fullest human life is revealed in God Incarnate, Jesus Christ, who overcame death by the power of his undying Love. And it is Christ who healed and fed and taught so that all might partake in his Life. Therefore it is incumbent upon those of us who claim to serve the God of Love, revealed in the Life of Christ, to actually do what he taught, and live as he lived: By healing and feeding and teaching others his Way of Life. 

This entails a number or commitments personally, ethically, societally, and even politically...

Is Christianity Political?

As we gallop into yet another conflicted election cycle, it is inevitable that people will ask the question of whether Christianity is political. Well, if by politics we mean a cohesive vision of Society which a group of people strive to implement, then yes. Christianity is deeply political. In the synoptic Gospels the core message of Jesus was the immanent arrival of the Kingdom of God. Kingdom is a politically charged word. It is a place ruled by a King. You don't get more political than that. And the phrase "Kingdom of God" occurs 66 times in the New Testament. "Kingdom of Heaven" occurs 31 times, mostly in Matthew. And other than that, Kingdom occurs over 50 more times. If that is not political, I do not know what is. Not only that, but Jesus came to call a community of people into communion with the Living God. And wherever there are people, there are politics. It is simply unavoidable.

Is Social Justice merely a Leftist Talking Point?

We've heard a lot about Social Justice lately. When used in a positive way, it is often connected with the move toward public recognition and equal treatment for historically disenfranchised peoples, including Blacks, Latinx, and Queer persons. When used in a negative way, Social Justice is portrayed as a kind of Leftist "trojan horse" to inflict good hearted people with guilt and shame and even debt because of historic policies and events they had nothing directly to do with. So, is "social justice" just some kind of newly devised left-wing catch phrase designed to browbeat Americans into policies which are at odds with the foundational principles of our civilization?

Deuteronomy Five Seventeen

A didactic poem

Hope in a Hollow Culture

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 1.2) 

It is easy to lose Hope in a counterfeit Consumer Culture like ours. Outwardly, we appear to have every resource and luxury, but inwardly so many of us are hollow and empty...

A Squandered Jubilee

It seems God has given us what could be a Jubilee year. But we are squandering it. 

“You will make the fiftieth year holy, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee year for you: each of you must return to your family property and to your extended family. The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee year for you. Do not plant, do not harvest the secondary growth, and do not gather from the freely growing vines... The land will give its fruit so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it... The LORD says: The land must not be permanently sold because the land is mine. You are just immigrants and foreign guests of mine.” (Leviticus 25:10–11, 19, 23) 

Sam Harris’ Monstrous Moral Landscape

I recently picked up Michael Brooks’ book about the “Intellectual Dark Web” in which he critiques the views of several “renegade” intellectuals, including the famous secular crusader Sam Harris. This was one of those instances where I was reminded of something I intended to write, but never got around to. In particular, around 2013 I read through Harris’ 2010 book entitled “The Moral Landscape”. In it, Harris advocates the idea that Moral Values can be derived from empirical observation alone. While this thesis is problematic on its own, what makes it especially problematic for Harris is an incendiary moral claim that he made six years prior in an earlier book: 

A Mediation on James Three

Words are a gift

An intimate gift

A holy gift

From the Word

Through the words

By our words 

We are invited 

To climb into someone else’s soul

To think their thoughts alongside them

To see through their eyes

To feel with their heart

To imagine their imaginations

And dream their dreams

Such is the sacred power of words. 

.

And yet we live in World

Deaf to words

And blind to the Word

Because we spew words frantically and frenetically 

We fire them like bullets to slay our enemies

We use words to lure and trap and ensnare

We prostitute our words

We whore them out for power and praise

We use them to manipulate and infiltrate

And desecrate

The Temple of the Soul

Using our many many many words

For anything

For everything 

Except communication and communion

Our use of words is to the Gift of the Word

What pornography is to the Marriage Bed. 

.

Words are a gift

Words are a weapon

Words are a tool

Words are a lure

Words can be signposts 

Pointing to the creative Word of Love and Light

Or they can be directions

Leading us to the depths of Hell

So take care how you use them. 

.

A poem on the occasion 

Of my 500th post to this blog

May my words be part of the solution

And not part of the problem

28 Summers

28 summers ago I fell in love with Jesus

Not all at once

But a growing awareness

Starting with a desperate deal

Heal my life Jesus!

And I will live that life for you!

Little did I know what that would entail

But Jesus was faithful when I was faithless

And so unfolding over several months

This new love became real

Until one late night

On a Christmas break

At a Taco Bell

I knew I belonged to Jesus

Deep down in my gut

And it wasn’t just bean and cheese tacos talking. 

Two Lefts don't make a Right: The Old Left and the New Left

Now that I have around people on the broad "Political Left" for over a decade, I have come to see both the persistent Right Wing mischaracterization of Leftist politics, as well as the endless debates and battles within the Left itself. And what most outside the Left, and many inside the Left, do not understand is that there is not just one Left. There are many. Just as there is not just one form of conservative. There are many. 

And while I identify with Classical Christianity instead of modern politics (whether Left or Right), and no one on the Left would accept me as part of the Left, I would like to talk here about two versions of the Left which seem to be particularly important in the United States in 2020. This is my attempt to compile and organize what I have learned reading and teaching about politics in the last decade, and not an authoritative account of political or economic theory. Any flaws in the description are my fault alone, and should not be blamed on the sources I cite.

With that out of the way, let's start with two basic definitions:

The Old Left: Focuses on making sure every person, starting with the most vulnerable and impoverished, has “daily bread”. The main emphasis here is making sure the material conditions are met for all people to survive and thrive, including access for all to healthy nutrition, secure housing, quality medical care, educational opportunity, and access to political representation and courts of justice. This Old Left can range from a Democratic Socialist emphasis on nationalizing some industries as utilities for the public good, while leaving a robust free market for other goods and services, to Statist Communism, in which all industries and economic activities are managed and distributed by the government. 

The New Left: Focuses on making sure every person, starting with the most traumatized and marginalized, has a positive self-image. The main emphasis here is to limit psychic, social, and symbolic violence which is done to marginalized peoples by other powerful stakeholders in society. When marginalized peoples are demeaned or denied by other stakeholders, this has systemic effects socially, economically, and psychologically. Thus we must make all marginalized groups safe from these aggressions by carefully regulating speech, artistic content, institutional access, media coverage, and all other aspects of social interaction, so that we can silence, de-platform, and marginalized all ideas, people, and groups who would traumatize and marginalize others. 

Christ and the Cosmos: A Review and Proposal for Trinitarianism

Recently I finished reading "Christ and the Cosmos: A Reformulation of Trinitarian Doctrine" by Keith Ward. It is a stunning and masterful restatement of the idea of the Trinity in light of the findings of modern science and the philosophy of personal idealism. In it, he lays out a powerful case for why the Trinity should be conceived as three Intersubjective Relations within One Divine Self, rather than as three Independent Persons in a Community of Three Divine Selves. I have written before about the difference between this "One Self" or "One Consciousness" view of the Trinity versus a "Three Self" or "Three Consciousness" view of the Trinity. 

Social Collapse and Divine Judgment

The LORD says: Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel? Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir? (Amos 9:7)

The history of Israel is given as a Pattern of how God works with all people groups through all time. From the oppression and enslavement that led to the liberation of God’s people in the the Exodus, to the idolatry and injustice that led to the discipline of God’s people in the Exile: It reveals the Pattern God follows in dealing with peoples and nations. What God has done in the history of Israel, God has also done in the history of the Ethiopians and the Egyptians and the Philistines and the Arameans. And what God has done in those nations, God also does in all other nations and peoples and cultures. 

Here's how that works out...

A Provocation on Irony and Cynicism

Novelist David Foster Wallace once observed: “Few artists dare to try to talk about ways of working toward redeeming what’s wrong, because they’ll look sentimental and naive to all the weary ironists. Irony’s gone from liberating to enslaving. There’s some great essay somewhere that has a line about irony being the song of the prisoner who’s come to love his cage.” From newscaster comedians to blockbuster movies to social media, we are drenched in irony and sarcasm and cynicism that pretends to complain about the way things are. But secretly many don’t want to change anything about it. They get too much profit and popularity from the dysfunctional and destructive system we live in. Irony has become the song of the caged bird who is secretly scared to death of leaving its cage. Irony is merely ersatz resistance: It makes us feel like we are rejecting the system and rebelling against injustice, when in fact constant irony imprisons our imaginations to “what is possible” and adjusts our behavior to the “the way things are”. Using irony, we complain as we obey. But we still obey nonetheless. And when irony and cynicism become orthodoxy, then sincerity and hope become subversion of what is “realistic”. So let’s really become realists and demand the impossible with sincerity and hope. 

Flawed Biblical Heroes and Racist Monuments

Recently the WSJ published a deeply flawed argument for keeping racist monuments in public spaces. Basically, the argument is that since churches celebrate flawed saints, then public land should be used to celebrate racist heroes of a racist rebel cause (and if we don't, we are forsaking our "history"). Some points of contradiction:

Remember This

A reminder for myself. 

Maybe it will help you too. 

Be compassionate to everyone,

For we are all struggling 

In ways that are not apparent to others. 

Most of us are far better

Than our worst ideas and ideals, 

And we are far worse

Than our best ideas and ideals. 

None of us is perfect

None of us is whole

All of us rely on a Grace

Bigger than our worst failures

Better than our greatest hopes

To heal us and make us whole. 

So may we strive

To be embodiments of that Divine Grace

To one another. 

Privatize Racist Monuments: A Modest Proposal

In the wake of the George Floyd protests, we are seeing protesters around the world, from every tribe and tongue, rise up and dismantle monuments to human oppression. Monuments to slave holders are being defaced and beheaded, toppled onto the ground, and thrown into the water. Just as we cheered when the Berlin Wall came down, and when statues of Fascists and Dictators around the world have been torn down, so now people are cheering the forcible removal of racist monuments from public lands. What should we do about this?

God as Father or Mother or Parent or what?

Once again, I was reading through the letter to the Ephesians. At the end of chapter 3, one of my favorite prayers occurs. And so, since I have never made a public translation of it, I decided to translate it and post it on social media as "A Prayer for us all". Here it is:

Because of this gift, I bow my knees before The Parent [of us all], from whom all parenthood in the heavens and on the earth is named: I pray,  according to the riches of his Glory, that God would give to you all the power to be strengthened through his Spirit within the depths of your personhood, so that The Chosen One may dwell in your hearts, through his faithful [promise], [that you may] be rooted and grounded in Divine Love, so you are empowered to grasp, with all those set apart [by God], what is the width and length and height and depth [of Divine Love], and also to know the Divine Love of the Chosen One which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up fully with all the fullness of God! (St. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3.14-19, my translation from Greek)

Very soon after posting, a good friend of mine asked why I used "Parent" in verse 14 rather than "Father", since Father is the common translation and most direct rendering of the Greek πατήρ (Pater, from which we get words like paternal, patriarchy, patriotism, and by a long derivation, Father). This is a really good question, which cuts right to the heart of the nature of how we use language about God, as well as how we understand God in relation to gender. And so, what started as a quick explanation turned into this:

Twin Pandemics

The Twin Pandemics of 

Silent Disease and Systemic Inequity 

Have laid bare 

The emptiness of our cultural values

The incessant jangling of our moral superiority

The hollow clang of our promises 

Of liberty and justice for all.

We are witnessing the implosion of a culture 

Whose moral imagination is 

So atrophied 

So impoverished 

It cannot hold together any more. 

The Trinity Matters So Black Lives Matter

Pictured: An Icon of the Trinity from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

The following is a sermon that was given for Trinity Sunday at Grace Episcopal Church in San Antonio, and online during the COVID Pandemic. Another version of this sermon was preached for Black History Month at TMI - The Episcopal School of Texas (as is linked below). It was an attempt to help our diverse and divided community steer a path beyond the destructive conflict that has occurred in the wake of the George Floyd Murder, toward a more constructive dialogue in light of the fact that we are all made in the image of a God of Love, and beloved as God's children. 

Welcome to Trinity Sunday, where we get to talk about one of the most abstract ideas that Christian History has ever developed, in the midst of one of the most concrete social crises many of us have faced in our lifetime. On one hand, we need to talk about the transcendent, ineffable, infinite nature of the Source of the Universe, who we know as one God in the three Persons of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. You don't get much more abstract than that.

On the other hand, we need to connect this concept of God to the real life, concrete struggles people are facing right here, right now. And we are not just undergoing one major crisis. Or even two. We are hemorrhaging crises! We have a pandemic which lurks around every corner, which can easily make some people sick enough to be hospitalized or even die, while it has absolutely no effect on other people.

On top of this we have a looming economic crisis which has affected about one in four Americans in a major way, from lost jobs to lost businesses. People are struggling from paycheck to paycheck, and worried about keeping a roof over their family's head. And to top all of it off, to use a Biblical phrase, it seems that in matters of racism and violence, the "sins of the fathers" are being visited on the next generations.

The Most Damnable Reason

The most damnable reason for existing 

Is to be liked. 

Mirrors and Mimics

We are mirrors and mimics: 

What has been done to us, 

We will do to others. 

What we do to others, 

Will be done to us. 

Personally. 

Relationally. 

Socially. 

Politically. 

Globally. 

So to create the kind of world we want to live in, 

It becomes imperative 

We heed the ancient mundane ethical truism: 

Always do to others 

What you would have them do to you: 

Personally. 

Relationally. 

Socially. 

Politically. 

Globally. 

Worship is God's Love embodied

I encourage you, brothers and sisters, through the deep compassion of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is the worship that harmonizes us with the Divine Purpose. (Romans 12:1, my translation)

The best worship is embodied. Praise God's beauty by creating beautiful things. Praise God's goodness by doing good. Praise God's Truth by being truthful.

I have often pondered the function of our language of praise. I am sure that such language makes our Lord glad (when done sincerely!). And yet, we are not telling God anything God did not know already. And in fact our liturgical acts of praise can only be a faint glimmer of the participatory worship which is the dynamic interpenetrating life of the Trinity (termed the perichoresis, or Divine Dance, in Orthodoxy). 

If anything, our language of praise does more for us than for God. It orients us- aims us- toward the beauty, truth, and goodness of the Trinity. Our real worship - Romans 12.1 style - is to embody and participate in the Triune God, instead of just talking about it. Or rather: Our talking about God's greatness in worship provides us a language to imitate God with. And when we worship a God who IS Love, it should rightfully lead us to embody that Love as we live in a creation which is God's Great Artwork, and relate to people who are God's children. This is God's purpose for all of creation.

A Prayer for LGBTQ+ Pride Month

The Rainbow we display in June to celebrate the diversity and beauty of humans made in God’s image reflects the diversity and beauty of the Triune God who is our Creator. As it says in Scripture: 

“Just like the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day so was the appearance of brilliance that surrounded him. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.” (Ezekiel 1.28)

A Litany for Protests

Since I cannot make it to any of the vigils or protests this weekend that are seeking justice for George Floyd and other black men and women who have been murdered lately, I decided to do the only other thing I am good at: Write and pray. The following is a Litany to pray for the protests across the country. I would humbly as you to pray with me if you feel comfortable, using these words or words of your own.

Racial Questions from a Suburban Kid

The following is a personal reflection intended to spur public discussion. It is the result of several conversations, online and in person, I had with other adults about the issue of racism in America after the George Floyd murder and the protests that followed. This should not be read as an academic or normative assessment of American culture (I do not have the credentials to begin to offer such an assessment). It is also not a commentary on ethnicity or race or "whiteness" or "blackness" as a monolithic phenomena. I don't think there are such monoliths, and every person's identity and experience is different, even from those in their own category or cohort or group. Rather, this is a personal reflection. To the extent my personal experience resonates with you, I would be happy to talk about it. But if this does not resonate with you, that's fine too.

I’m from the part of Gen X that went through childhood during the Reagan Era. I lived in the North Dallas suburbs, where the majority were WASPy folks like me, but there were also significant populations of African American and Latinx folks, as well as a smattering of South and East Asian families. It was not utopia by any stretch of the imagination, but we all played together on the playground, and went to each other’s houses after school, and competed together in sports. 

And at school we watched “Free to be You and Me” together, and learned that the racial divide had been largely “solved” by Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, so that we now lived in a diverse multi-racial culture. When we got into high school, race became a little more of an issue, but I don’t ever remember it stopping us from partying together, or even from dating across racial lines. Then Rodney King happened my junior year and the L.A. riots followed. But that was still far away from me, and different from my experience of race where I lived in the North Dallas suburbs. 

But in the last decade it seems like Rodney King happens every month. Sometimes more. And it happens to young black men and old black men and black men walking and black men jogging and black men standing and even black men sleeping in their own homes. And it happens even in places where I have lived and worked. And it is heart breaking and maddening and disorienting. And I wonder how I could have been so blind to such systemic exclusion and oppression for so much of my life. 

I know the short answer is my privilege: Since it wasn’t me or my class that was experiencing the effects of racism, I was not attuned to see it unless there was a blatant display right in front of me. Which is rarely the case, because most racists will not admit to being racist. Even to themselves. And, if I am really honest, even to myself. Because as I grow older I find these remnants of racism and sexism and prejudice that emerge like festering splinters needing to be taken out. 

But still, I wonder...

Where there's smoke...

I often feel like we are in a culture where most people have been systematically desensitized to smelling smoke or seeing fire. And we are in the precarious position of either (a) screaming “Hey! Your house is on fire! Escape now!” Which almost certainly will get ignored as the ravings of insane people. Or (b) being put in the absurd position of saying “Perhaps you might consider that your house *could* be on fire. I mean, I’m no expert on house fires of course. But here are ten common warning signs of being in a house on fire. Oh? You don’t like those because they come from an anti-fire fake news source? Ok. I understand. Here’s a news source that you like which gives five indicators of house fire. Perhaps you might think about it. And, um, if it’s not too much trouble, I dunno, kinda think about leaving your house. Just for a little while. Nothing too drastic of course.” (cf. Buddha’s parable of the children in the burning house)

The Pentecostal Promise

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability… This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: "In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy… Even upon my servants, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." [From Acts 2:1-21]

I have a confession to make. Perhaps the scariest holy day in the Christian calendar for me is Pentecost. It scares me because it holds within it the promise of unpredictability: The promise of a God who, at any time, could take our carefully manicured status quo, and turn it on its head. With a mighty roar, a cacophony of God's grace could overflow, and spill into the routine parts of our life.

On other holy days it is not this way. With some plausibility we can keep them outside of us. Christmas is about a holy child, born a long time ago, in a land far away. All Saints day is about holy women and men who are nice to think about, but live at several levels of remove from our daily life in 21st century America.

Even Easter, as incredible as it is, is easy to keep outside of us, to stop it from threatening us. It is about a Victory over death that happened long ago, that assures us of eternal life sometime in the future. 

Theological Topology: Placing the Trinity in Reality

At first glance, topology and theology have nothing to do with each other. Theology, on one hand, is "the rational discussion of God" (from the Greek words "theos" meaning God, and "logia" meaning study of, or reasoned discourse about). Topology, on the other hand, is the study of geometric properties and spatial relations between various kinds of objects in space, and the way in which constituent parts are interrelated or arranged. So, theology seems to deal with an Ultimate Reality beyond our world, while topology deals with spatial relations within our world. Nothing could be more different. It is like comparing apples to oranges, or Infinite Being to mere beings.

Adventures in Book Binding 2020

For those who have known me for a while, you know I like binding books. In particular, you know I like re-binding Bibles in new and creative ways. Before my Bible and Prayer Book primarily took up residence on my smartphone and tablet, I even tried printing, compiling, and binding my own English-Hebrew-Greek study Bible. But, for most of my adulthood, that has taken the form of duct-tape binding. I have created duct-tape Bibles with flaps and velcro and extra storage space for pens and pencils. After having several duct tape Bibles for over a decade, I have found that over time they tend to degrade, get sticky on the outside, and have the velcro peel off. So, I started looking for a better solution...

The Temptation of being too clever

The persistent temptation of intellectual pursuit is that we become satisfied with being clever instead of living life better. The reason we have been gifted with reason and knowledge is that we may learn to better live and love and experience the abundance of the world we inhabit. Through us the universe has become aware of itself, as we consciously harness the powers of creation to strive ever onward into countless forms of Truth and Goodness and Beauty. Through us God experiences every possible form of life, and gives Godself in love to every particular situation and person, suffering in love with all of our pains, and rejoicing in love with all of our joys. For Christians this is embodied in the One who embodied Divine Logic and Reason in the form of a human servant, that we all might be joined to the Divine Life of God. It is a tragic loss to view the mind as an end in itself, and knowledge as a kind of trophy that sets us apart from others as a source of pride. This disconnects us from the very reason we are gifted with Reason in the first place: For connection, for relationship, for Love.

On Paul's "I have fought the good fight"

Recently a colleague asked me about what Paul meant in 2Timothy 4.7. He said: "I want to use this passage in something I’m doing, but I lack a greater context for it, and I don’t want to get into a “Road Not Taken” misinterpretation situation. To me the lines of the passage are direct and reassuring, but I want to make sure I’m not missing anything. So... If you have time, I’d love to hear your views on it." So, if this helps anyone, here's my response:

Two Visions of Education

(Click on the chart for a better view of what I am talking about)

Just a quick meditation on what Education is, and why we educate people. What is the purpose of education? Is it transformation or information?

The costs of being embodied in a virtual world

I recently read a great article from the BBC on why video calls are so exhausting for so many people. It lists a number of physical and psychological mechanisms in which video conferencing seems to go against our nature, our needs, and the fundamental way we are wired. The truth seems to be that trying to pursue Community and connection via virtual electronic surrogates is bound to fail at a basic level, and have high costs on people physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This is true no matter what lens you look at humans through: 

The Crumbling Metaphysics of Mammon

Despite radically different starting points, both the secular and religious person are duty bound, by the very fundamentals of their worldview, to oppose the absolute claims of the Market Economy to rule the affairs of humanity. Furthermore, they are even more duty bound to harness the powers of the economy to bring abundant life to humans. For money is created to serve humans, and not humans to serve money. The wealth of a nation is the health of its people, and the health of an economy is the health and well-being of the people served by that economy. There is no other metric that is meaningful or worthwhile. Is the economy increasing the life and health and wellbeing of those who live within it? Then it is a good economy that needs to be strengthened. Is the economy decreasing the life and health and wellbeing of those who live within it? Then it is a bad economy that needs to be reformed.

Sapiens, Evolution, and Wrath of Khan

A couple of years back I read Yuval Harari’s book Sapiens. Great read. On one hand, I am completely on board with his evolutionary metaphysic. I think part of our Divine nature is to evolve more fully into the potential God has placed within us by making us "in God's image". This is actually a fairly common reformed Jewish and secular Jewish viewpoint (cf. Erich Fromm's 1966 book "You Shall Be as Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament"). I've also written and preached this idea. I even embrace much of what Harari says about Transhumanism as the immediate goal of human self-evolution. And there are Christian theologians such as Keith Ward and Ted Peters who have a fairly robust acceptance of Transhumanism as well. After all, I figure my great grandchildren will all be cyborgs, and it doesn’t actually worry me that much. 

But what bothered me was in chapter 12...

Christ is Risen: An Ancient Easter Song

This is one of my favorite meditations on the power of the Resurrection and the meaning of Easter, from 17 centuries ago.

When Words Fail

How both Theistic and Nontheistic language fails to describe Ultimate Reality

In the constant back and forth between Theists and Nontheists, one of the frequent criticisms hurled from both sides regards the problem of language. Both sides claim that that other side slides into nonsensical or tautological language that fails to say anything about Reality. At some point, each side gets to ideas that are so foundational, so axiological, to their interpretive framework, that all they can say is "it is what it is".

What is interesting to me is that this point of linguistic "no return" is precisely at the same point and regarding the same issues. This break in meaningful, non-tautological language happens precisely at the ultimate origin, the ultimate value, and the ultimate destiny of all things. At these three points both the Theist and the Nontheist are effectively reduced to silence. This is when our words fail: When we lack the ability and even the concepts necessary to describe the ultimate nature of the Reality we find ourselves in.

Mundane Mysticism

Why do we look for a Divine Realm 
Of depth and richness 
Beyond the elaborately embroidered world 
We live and move and exist within? 
Why do we long for a heaven 
Outside of earth? 

Problematic Pandemic Posts

Are we making the Pandemic more toxic by what we post online? 

As we enter into the second month of the United States’ response to the global Coronavirus Pandemic, I have frequently encountered three dysfunctional kinds of problematic Pandemic posts on social media: Productivity, Positivity, and Protest. The “productivity” response tells us to go above and beyond with creative responses, to make things as normal as possible, and mimic pre-pandemic life virtually. The response to any and every problem is “DO MORE STUFF!” The “positivity” response tells us to look on the bright side of this crisis to find all the hidden blessings, and if we pray hard and believe sincerely, things will turn out just fine. The  response to any and every problem is “BE HAPPY!” The “protest” response looks for someone to blame for how bad things have gotten, and if only “they” did it differently we wouldn’t be in this mess. The response to any and every problem is “COMPLAIN LOUDER!” All of these are a form of denial that pushes away reality so we don’t have to deal with it. 

Race Cars, Pandemics, and Economics

If we want to have a global interconnected society that can survive shocks like pandemics, we are learning that all people everywhere need basic access to nourishment, healthcare, and communications. Without it, every institution, from schools to businesses to entire economies, grinds to a halt. 

The Sacrament of Imagination

An abnormal Sunday approaches
When Church pews normally filled
Lie dormant and desolate
As the faithful search for ways
To fill the void
In their schedule 
And in their hearts

Divine Justice, Quarantine, and Healing

During this time of pandemic, social distancing, and quarantine, my sacred reading today was from the First letter of John (read it all here). One text in particular deals with Divine Justice, and can really reframe how with think of Justice in an age of global contagion:

"If we confess our sins, [Christ] is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all injustice." (1 John 1.9)

Prayer Resources for COVID19

The following is the text of an email I sent out to the faculty, staff, and families of my school community. I post this as a resource to other pastors or chaplains who may want to send a similar email and resources. Feel free to cut-and-paste and adapt as needed.