There are two kinds of people currently in this world: those who love The Mandalorian and those who haven’t seen it. This show is beloved by Star Wars superfans and the casual Star Wars follower alike; the former for its brilliant way of incorporating characters and events from the Star Wars world and the latter […]
A Guide to Loving Your Conspiracy Theorist
And so, in conclusion, FDR knew about Pearl Harbor, and he allowed the attack to happen so that America would get involved in World War II. He has the blood of American patriots on his hands. I still remember the silent cringe in that classroom 16 years ago as we witnessed a classmate self-destruct in […]
When Your Worst Day Is Preparation Day (Mark 15:43-47)
Morning Devotional from An Easy Stroll Through a Short Gospel: Meditations on Mark
The Best Penitential Season Ever, Or, A Lenten Kinship with the Devil
On Breaking Bones and Idealized Visions of Motherhood
Grace at SantaLand: Why David Sedaris Is My Favorite Advent Reading
This one was written by Jonathan Sanchez. It’s a bit of a weird choice for an Advent meditation, I’ll admit–the last entry of “SantaLand Diaries” by David Sedaris. Honestly, though, I’ve read those two pages so many times, I know them by heart. In the great Christmas stories, there’s a lot of dark stuff. Scrooge […]
Mining Netflix: “Father Brown”
What do you get when you cross Sherlock Holmes with Pope Francis and Arthur Weasley? You get a slightly bumpling but brilliant Catholic priest who moonlights as a murder detective. “Father Brown” is the literary creation of G.K. Chesterton, and the BBC show based on him is now airing on Netflix in its entirety. I […]
How Jesus Solves the Trolley Problem
There’s a famous thought experiment called the Trolley Problem that goes like this: imagine you are standing by a trolley track, and an out-of-control trolley car whizzes by. Looking ahead, you see that five people have been tied to the track by an evil moustache-twirling villain, and they will die if the trolley continues on […]
Get Out While You Can: A Defense of Escapism
Escapism has a bad name nowadays. It’s usually equated with those who play video games for far too long, get lost in fiction books, or never come back from their Hawaii vacation. Escapists are the ignorant who bury their head in the sand in the hopes that they won’t be devoured. In Christian circles, they are the hermetic […]
Jesus Didn’t Have a Pen
It struck me last week (not sure how, or why) that Jesus didn’t have a pen. St. Luke apparently had a pen. He had to write prescriptions. Did they have prescriptions back then? Certainly to be the “Dear and Glorious Physician” one would have to have a pen, or a quill, or a facsimile thereof. […]
Whatever It Takes: Friendship and Avenging the Fallen
This one’s for Kristin and Anna; Andy, Blake, Caleb, Chris, Jeff, Nathan, Reed, and Trevor. Some spoilers follow. “If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him [his friend, Etienne Boetie] I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was […]
The Death of Control
My wife has one unrelenting addiction: “Jeopardy!” If there is time, she will watch, and if I am there, I will sit through it. In his 35 years on the syndicated nightly show, Alex Trebek has become an icon. His hushed superiority, muffled humor, and obvious judgments of the players and the game are, now, […]
Hopelessly Devoted: Mark Chapter Nine Verses Fourteen Through Twenty-Nine
This morning’s devotion, “An Honest Prayer for Faith,” was written by Larry Parsley. It’s taken from his new devotional, An Easy Stroll Through a Short Gospel: Meditations on Mark, available through Mockingbird’s online bookstore and Amazon. “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do […]
