Thankful for this post from Grace Leuenberger: This week, Sufjan Stevens announced a new, forthcoming solo album titled The Ascension, his first since Carrie and Lowell debuted in March 2015. I remember listening to the album on that frigid March morning, sitting with my legs cramped underneath my dorm room desk. Tears sprung up in […]
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
When I was a kid attending Sunday School in a very traditional Baptist church in the Midwest, we learned Bible stories… I became familiar with the regular cast of characters like Adam and Eve, Noah, David, Moses, etc. I could tell you that Moses parted the Red Sea; Adam and Eve ate an apple; David […]
Everybody Else’s Biggest Problem: You Just Can’t, Okay?
Welcome to the fourth installment of act three of author Ted Scofield’s series on everybody else’s biggest problem but your own. If you missed one or more of the previous installments, the entire series can be found here. In Terminator 2, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s titular cyborg is about to kill two innocent civilians in a dark parking lot, […]
The Grammar Police Gives It a Rest
This one comes to us from a new writer and friend, Emily Sherrod. Deep in the recesses of my pajama drawer, there’s a t-shirt featuring a cartoon policeman and the label “grammar police.” It’s a relic from my high school years—when I was a little too proud of my SAT writing scores and all too willing to […]
Everybody Else’s Biggest Problem, Pt. 2: The Collapse of Human Civilization
This is the second installment of author Ted Scofield’s series on “everybody else’s biggest problem.” If you missed his introduction to the series, you can read it here. New installments will be posted every two weeks, on Tuesdays. “The United States has become a greedier, meaner, colder, more selfish, and more uncaring place. This is […]
The Seventh Deadly Sin: A Conference Breakout Preview
This conference preview comes from Ted Scofield. Of the Seven Deadly Sins, it’s the last one on our list. Number seven, at the bottom, out of sight, out of mind. Anger, pride, gluttony, laziness, lust and envy — we’ll cop to all of those sins, but greed? What? Who? Me? Research shows that most of us […]
“Coach Cut” and the Deconstruction of Peyton and Eli
Well known preacher and author Tim Keller is fond of saying “the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian life, it’s the A t0 Z of the Christian life.” It sure would have been helpful to have had that ingrained in me when I threw my stick in the fire and “gave my life […]
In Gratitude of A Love Supreme
I recently read Tim Keller’s book on work, Every Good Endeavor. One of the most important takeaways for me was learning more about John Coltrane, who is the inspiration for Keller’s title. Keller quotes the original liner notes to Coltrane’s most famous album, A Love Supreme, which use the words “every good endeavor.” This week […]
For Those Who Love Poorly: Forgiveness in The Woodsman & Around the Bend
“Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.” –Henri Nouwen “…God’s grace […]
Previously on Parenthood: Another Breakout Session
For the session I’m hosting—“Thou Art my Beloved Child: Parenthood for Prodigals”—we look at instances of surprisingly unconditional grace, mercy, and compassion (i.e., love) in the family context as seen in the TV show Parenthood. My emphasis is more on parenthood-the-topic than Parenthood-the-show so that anyone, whether a regular Parenthood viewer or someone who has never even […]
In Bad Company with Christian (Criminal) Heroes
I started wrestling with the idea of dual identity a few months back, having discovered ing Gerhard Forde’s A More Radical Gospel a section where Martin Luther describes simul et justus et peccator, which means simultaneously saint and sinner. Around that same time, the new NBC series Awake was coming out, and I began to see […]
Awake, 50/50 Hypocrisy, and Christian Progress
This piece comes from Mockingbird friend Jason Redcay. After I became a Christian, I still thought Christians were hypocrites. Like anyone, our standing before the Law reveals hypocrisies in spades. And yet a Christian is said to be sanctified, made good, holy, righteous… a saint when they are still so obviously, well, not. How can […]
