The Christian Century

It has not happened all that often, but on occasions someone has been upset enough with a sermon I've preached to call me up and complain.

Whenever I attend Catholic mass during Advent, as I did last weekend, I’m always struck by how it is simply assumed—how it’s a liturgical . . . no, an ontological given—that Christmas is nowhere yet in sight.

One of the things people say about Christianity is that Christians believe odd, impossible things. And well, they’re right. We do.

This week at Theology Pub we discussed Thanksgiving from various angles. I found it an interesting topic because giving thanks—and gratitude in general—is certainly not unique to people of faith.

I was watching one of those competitive cooking shows the other night with my six year old daughter Emma. The challenge in that particular episode involved taking the chefs out to (as they called it) “the middle of nowhere” and having them butcher a pig and cook it over a fire they built from wood they gathered.

Once again, while at an ecumenical clergy gathering, I heard the call for the Church to become missional, this time from a Presbyterian.

Now that October 2011 has drawn to an end, I want to express my gratitude to all the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who were inspired by the tradition of October being Coming Out month to come out to themselves and those around them.

What is the message of this billboard?

I shared today in church a few of parables from Matthew 13: mustard seed, yeast, treasure, pearl. I tried to just tell them as stories: very little editorial commentary or explanation, just the stories.