Articles by Christian Coon

Blogging Toward Sunday

Who wants to be Mary/

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Luke 1:26-38; Romans 16:25-27

Dec 15, 2008 by Christian Coon

"Who wants to be Mary?"

Blogging Toward Sunday

Who do you think you are?

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; John 1:6-8, 19-28; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Dec 08, 2008 by Christian Coon

My wife and I recently went to see William Inge's play Picnic, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. It was a riveting performance. I was moved by how deeply the characters struggle to figure out who they are in their corner of the world, a small town in Kansas.

Blogging Toward Sunday

Hearing voices

Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8; 2 Peter 3:8-15a

Dec 01, 2008 by Christian Coon

I have not baptized many adults, so those I have baptized stand out and are special to me. One was a woman I'll call Eleanor. Eleanor's hair has tight curls. She walks with a slight limp and smells a bit of cigarette smoke.

Blogging Toward Sunday

Enriched in every way

Ezekiel 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Nov 24, 2008 by Christian Coon

My George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine is sitting in my basement, serving as a lovely stand for our waffle iron. It still works fine, but I think I've only turned it on twice since I unwrapped it two or three years ago.

Blogging Toward Sunday

On actually following a beloved passage

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46; Ephesians 1:15-23

Nov 17, 2008 by Christian Coon

In the marketing world, a high "Q score" means that an item or brand is well known and regarded. I'm not aware that anyone rates biblical passages in this way, but if you did, Matthew 25 would have to have one of the highest Q scores—not far behind Psalm 23 at the top.

Blogging Toward Sunday

Recession-proof investments

Judges 4:1-7; Matthew 25:14-30; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Nov 10, 2008 by Christian Coon

This American Life recently aired two shows on our current economic climate.

Living by the Word

Glimpses of glory

Matthew 17:1-9; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Exodus 24:12-18

Jan 29, 2008 by Christian Coon

Kurt Vonnegut, the renowned writer and self-avowed humanist, once said that his epitaph should read, “The only proof he ever needed of the existence of God was music.” I wonder if Vonnegut had been listening to Franz Jackson; hearing Jackson on the saxophone would inspire such a statement.

Living by the Word

Tests in all forms

Genesis 2:15-17; Matthew 4:1-11

Jan 29, 2008 by Christian Coon

Imagine being brilliant—Massachusetts Institute of Technology kind of brilliant. You’ve aced the course work in electrical engineering and computer science and you’re ready to work as a Wall Street analyst. But there’s one test left, and it has absolutely nothing to do with electrical engineering or computer science. You have to swim 100 yards.