Christmas Eve story

I’ve been telling a story on or near Christmas Eve for about three years now. I don’t know who the author is. I got it out of a Christian Ethics textbook about sixteen years ago. It goes something like this:
Now the man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was [...]

Read Full Post »

Ouch.

So, the archdeacon just dropped by to see how I was doing, and to let me know he’d been visiting a family from the parish I just stopped pastoring last month. It was a parish that had a church in four small, rural towns, and this family lives in the smallest town, furthest from the [...]

Read Full Post »

Charismatic gifts

When I was seventeen, I received a letter from a friend of mine. She had been attending this Christian camp and was “slain in the spirit”: falling down beside the campfire and hitting her head on a rock. She claimed to be okay, but I was concerned. I really liked her, and the idea of [...]

Read Full Post »

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend…”

As I pack to move (no, I don’t have a new job yet, but canon law gives me three months grace in the rectory before I really should be moved), I am struck with a large lack upon this blog. If I’m talking about who I am, and what has formed my journey thus far, [...]

Read Full Post »

Taking a stand

I’ve always been more of a reader than a social butterfly. I remember that my parents would always stay after church to have coffee with the others. They were often among the very last to leave. As they did so, I’d work my way through the Sunday school library, reading all the children’s books. Most [...]

Read Full Post »

Sometimes I Stumble; sometimes I fall.

After clicking around to see why I suddenly have so many more people dropping by, it looks like Wilbau added this blog, and in particular my post on “What it took” to StumbleUpon: in the Atheist/Agnostic and Unknown categories. One person has Stumbled by looking for things in the Atheist/Agnostic category, and two hundred and [...]

Read Full Post »

Praying for strength.

I said a prayer the other day.
In some ways, that’s not surprising. I’ve been a theist for decades. Giving thanks for meals or asking for forgiveness are almost reflexive for me.
But this was something more. My wife was going into surgery. She was scared. She knew the risks and the probabilities, and while there was [...]

Read Full Post »

What it took.

So I’ve been reading various proposals on what people think they would find compelling enough to convince them, if they are atheists, to become theists, or, if they are theists, to become atheists.
I had been asked to think about this when I was getting my bachelor’s degree, and I couldn’t come up with a good [...]

Read Full Post »

Disclaimer

Any time we try to tell a story, we simplify. We choose a beginning and an end, officially ignoring all that came before and after as if the story was not part of a greater whole. Worse, between the beginning and the end we only include that which we think is relevant and/or entertaining, and [...]

Read Full Post »

Self-hatred

“If anyone comes to me without hating… his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).
I’m putting this here because it’s part of who I am, and contributes to where I am right now on my journey. It’s not a fun read. It’s about depression, self-image problems, low self-esteem and all that other stuff. [...]

Read Full Post »