Joy at the Joy of Tracy Chapman

February 5, 2024.Reading time 18 minutes.

I want to circle back to a theme that clearly resonated with people in my post on Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce last week. It’s a concept I’ve come to now understand has a name: “Freudenfreude.” Loosely defined as:“Taking joy/pleasure in other people’s joy or pleasure.” It’s a concept defined as the linguistic opposite of “Schadenfreude.”“Taking pleasure […]

Wowza

February 2, 2024.Reading time 2 minutes.

I’ve been writing longform over on Facebook for more than a decade now, but never had anything approaching the reaction to this week’s post on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. 10,000 shares?Are you kidding me? Wowza.So, thanks again to everyone for sharing/reading this post…and for re-enforcing my faith in humanity. It’s very clear that, like […]

The UMC and USA are “Center-Left”

February 1, 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.

The United Methodist Church is now a Center-Left denomination.America is a Center-Left Nation. These are the twin theses I want to put before you today. After the past several years of bitter and partisan theological infighting, our separation into UMC and GMC is now complete. Studies show fully one quarter of former-United Methodist Churches have […]

What Taylor and Travis Teach Us About Men And Their Dreams

January 30, 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.

Let’s talk Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and a very specific freaking out happening right now. Because it’s a NEW kind of freaking out. It’s not the same old “Taylor-hating.”And I think I know exactly what’s driving it. The world has been foolishly bagging on Taylor Swift for decades now. And all along folks like me […]

“Give the People What They Want”

January 27, 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.

We saw the “Tina Turner Musical” this week, and a brief moment of the narrative has stayed with me, touched me deeply, and seems to speak deep truth about our need to be entertained, and perhaps even our continued fascination with Donald Trump. I know, that’s a lot. You might think the Trump association has […]

Our Baptismal Call with Houseless Neighbors

January 15, 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.

Dallas awakes to snow and ice, and flurries continuing to fall as I write, and I’m here to update you again about our ministry helpful our houseless neighbors. Yesterday, it seems to me, was one of those both beautiful and heartbreaking days…especially if you’re going to serve others. We started with our primary mission (IMHO) […]

Unpacking WH Auden’s “For the Time Being”

January 8, 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.

During this Christmas season, I’ve written meditations on one of my favorite literary works of all time:WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB) Here are links to each section.Feel free to keep this page handy, for easy future reference. Unpacking WH Auden’s “For the Time Being.” Section One: “ADVENT.” Section Two: “THE ANNUNCIATION“ Section Three: […]

Flight Into Egypt

January 8, 2024.Reading time 25 minutes.

The Final Section of WH Auden’s “For the Time Being” (FTTB)(For the Previous Section: Click Here.) So finally, today, I offer a our final mediation on this great Christmas Play. Those who celebrate the Commercialist Christmas —who believe Christmas ends on December 26th— you no doubt see it as ridiculous that I’m still writing on […]

The Slaughter of the Innocents

January 6, 2024.Reading time 32 minutes.

Section Eight of WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB) And so, after the theological/philosophical ramblings of the last section, WH Auden returns us to the characters again.Let’s get to it. First, as I’ve done with other sections, a few words of what we know of the actual King Herod…. Herod was a puppet king, […]

The Meditation of Simeon

January 5, 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.

Section Seven of WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB)(For the previous section: Click Here) I should say from the outset that in my many readings of FTTB, I often skip over this entire section. It’s always felt like a weird little interruption to the narrative, and a section of incredibly deep philosophy/theology that even […]