When my two sons were young and we’d travel anywhere by car, they’d race to the driver’s side door calling “shotgun” at the top of their lungs. Honestly, I’m not really sure what the value of sitting in that front seat was. Because actually when they got a little older—and especially when their friends were in the car—nobody … Read the rest
Continue reading "Pray. As You Can." »
“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Whoa. That’s a big ask. And a really big Biblical concept. Think fire and animal slaughter and blood of bulls poured out on an altar. Or how about the sacrifice of praise that we talk about from our own altar at Trinity? From Genesis to Jesus to the culture wars of … Read the rest
Continue reading "Making Holy, Together" »
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I have perplexity in my mind, and grief in my heart, day after day?”
How long indeed? 100-plus days since shelter at home, and I’m taking this psalm rather personally. The unknowable “how long-ness” of our pandemic … Read the rest
Continue reading "Transform the Story" »Let me tell you a story. It’s a story that’s been around for a while so probably you know it. It begins with space, a beautiful deep space that was made sacred because the Spirit of God hovered over its face. To make something sacred is to sacrifice it—that’s the Latin root of sacri-fice—and so the earth was … Read the rest
Continue reading "The Sacrificial Yes" »
I chanced to be listening to a favorite radio news station show a few days ago, when—because its election season—the programming had been commandeered by a broadcast debate between the mayoral candidates of our nearby metropolis of San Jose. The candidates are both liberal democrats, so in order to liven things up, a comedian in the … Read the rest
One of the most persistent puzzles of cognitive science is what’s called the “cocktail party effect,” which for us could just as well be called the coffee hour effect. It’s the ability we human beings have to single out and listen to a particular voice in a room buzzing with many voices, and its … Read the rest
