How can the church reach the emerging generation? This question anxiously flitters in and out of the evangelical mind, like the journey through a revolving door. However, no amount of reading will replace the experience of the subject at hand. In-person dialogue always brings previously unknown worlds to life. ‘Reaching’ the next generation starts with...
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In the strangeness of our years, Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day were the same day in 2024, many reflecting on their deepest longings with lament, and then before the day was done remembering the loves of their lives sentimentally-born-of-Hallmark et al. In reality both days have a truer home in the honest hope of longing-become-love....
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Movies, movies and more movies — and the 21st-century has given us platforms and possibilities that are overwhelming. Our local theaters still, but now PBS, Amazon, Acorn, Netflix, and BritBox too. What do we do with it all? While most movie-making passes us by, the stories told and sold, and soon forgotten, sometimes there is...
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Love in the ruins—and to be honest, we don’t get better than that. One more window into this reality is the recent essay in the NY Times, “A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled,” where we read that, surprise of all surprises, the AI search engine has a “personality” that longs to love,...
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Windswept. Having felt the Atlantic Ocean winds across my face, enamored by the coastline of Ireland, breathing deeply of its bracing air all day long, I know that those who make these islands their home never imagine a warm summery breeze. The weather is not always cold, but it is never hot, probably not ever...
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What does food mean, anyway? And why do we eat? For years I have been drawn into the profoundly-formed vision of Alexander Schmemann, even beginning courses on vocation by asking my students to read his book, “For the Life of the World.” At its heart it is an exploration of the belief that everything matters,...
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