Originally from North Carolina, Aaron graduated from Harvard in 1999 with a degree in History and Science. Before entering parish ministry, he taught English in Kazakhstan, wrote case studies at Harvard Business School, and worked as an analyst at H.J. Heinz Co. After receiving his M.Div. from Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in 2008, he served at St. Stephen's Church in Sewickley, PA, and St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. He is currently Rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Waco, Texas.
About Aaron M. G. Zimmerman
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The Meghan Trainor of Galilee
Someone told me recently that at his church they invite everyone to receive Communion, even if they are not Christians (which is a theological debate for another time). What got me was his reasoning. “Everybody’s welcome,” he said, “because Jesus never said no to anyone.” He said it like it’s a thing. Like something that […]
Rob Karlsson Will Not Make Your Life a Misery (Or Will He?)
I have a love/hate relationship with The New Yorker. Each week, the magazine arrives. First: I admire it’s glossy cover. Then, the cartoons (“Hey, honey, look at this one. We’re not like that at all.”) Next: the always funny “Shouts and Murmurs.” Then a survey of the table of contents. Another food essay. Pass. (I […]
Reviewing The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography
I was honored a few months ago to be asked to review Alan Jacobs’ new biography of The Book of Common Prayer for Modern Reformation magazine, one of my/our favorite periodicals. Seeing as the issue in which it appears just hit stands (May-June), here’s a generous portion of the article. Be sure to head over to […]
The Pink Prophet: A Lenten Reflection on Control
Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD. 6 They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited […]
Brene Brown and the End of Shame (See: Nazarene Carpenter)
One of the best things about moving to Houston, Texas, a year ago (other than the Mexican food and Blue Bell ice cream) is that I now live in the same town as Brené Brown. As such, I’ve been able to hear her twice: once as a speaker at the church where I work and […]
Gordon MacDonald and the Pool of Evil
Gordon’s MacDonald’s thoughts on “Vigorous Repentance”: I once thought that repentance simply meant that when you do something bad, you mention it, say that you’re sorry, and move on. But a revisiting of the Bible on this subject has moved me to understand that repentance is, first and foremost, an acknowledgement of that deeper pool […]
Gardner Taylor: Preaching to the Alienated Ones
When I’m 94, I hope I’m half as wise and cut-to-the-bone honest as the Rev. Dr. Gardner Taylor, known as “the dean of American preaching.” In a 2011 interview on “Preaching When Parched,” Dr. Taylor was asked how one can preach and minister during the “arid” times in life. His answer comes across with the bracing honesty […]
Pete Campbell: With Success Comes Sadness
Slate recently interviewed Vincent Kartheiser (aka Pete Campbell on Mad Men). In case we needed any reminders that human beings need love, not love-based-on-achievement, there’s this: Slate: [Your character’s] a man of ambition, but he seems to get more unhappy the more he achieves. He’s achieved many of his goals—Trudy had the baby, he got […]
Angry Birds, Good Friday
This morning I hit snooze four or five times. And so began a day of making non-optimal self-defeating choices. So often—and I mean All The Time—we do things that we know will cause ourselves pain, suffering, regret, guilt, and unhappiness. And then we do it again. Yet so often, the advice we get is to […]
Testimony – Stephen Dunn
The Lord woke me in the middle of the night,
and there stood Jesus with a huge tray,
and the tray was heaped with cookies,
and He said, Stephen, have a cookie,
and that’s when I knew for sure the Lord
is the real deal, the Man of all men,
because at that very moment
I was thinking of cookies, Vanilla Wafers
to be exact, and there were two
Vanilla Wafers in among the chocolate
chips and the lemon ices, and one
had a big S on it, and I knew it was for me,
and Jesus took it off the tray and put it
in my mouth, as if He were give me
communication, or whatever they call it.
Then He said, Have another,
and I tell you I thought a long time before I
refused, because I knew it was a test
to see if I was a Christian, which means
a man like Christ, and not a big ole hog.
Demi Moore’s Deepest Fear
Are you insecure? Hate your body? Fear the sheer unknown-ness of your future? Lay awake wondering if you’ll end up alone? Would it help if your father was a famous race-car driver? And if you’d been married to the bassist for one of the biggest bands of the 1980s and were now married to the […]
Winners, Losers, Zuccotti Park and Jesus (of Nazareth)
Tony Perkins’ recent CNN.com column is a “Who Would Jesus Support?” look at the Occupy movement. (He’s not the first to this fight.) His title says it all: “Jesus was a free-marketer, not an Occupier.” As the piece has made the obligatory rounds on the Interweb lately, it has elicited the predictable outrage from the […]
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