Hypocrite!!

Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face It’s not unusual to hear people level the charge of “hypocrite” at Christians.  Usually, this happens during debates about moral issues or the existence of God or any other time it seems convenient. Almost no one cares about logical fallacies in this day and age.  At the risk of irrelevance,…

Read More

Hospice, not a Hospital

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been reading Pope Francis’s Papal Encyclical, “Care for Our Common Home.”  The Pope focuses a lot of attention on curbing human problems–especially climate change and poverty–through public policy shifts.  He is certainly not alone in this.  It is not unusual to hear Christians calling for systemic shifts…

Read More

The Cut Flower of Creation

Photo by Carrie McKamey Recently, a friend asked me to read Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si: On Care of Our Common Home.  In it, the Pope lays out his views “on the environment and human ecology.”  A great deal of the discussion centers on human-caused climate change.  Pope Francis intricately explores the environmental and social ramifications…

Read More

Celebrating “In”-dependence

Sketch by Patrick Murphy With the Fourth of July just past, we have ringing in our ears and independence on our minds. National memory makes independence a chief value for Americans.   Our sense of freedom is rooted in each person’s right to live as they see fit. The classic “American Dream” is to achieve…

Read More

Don’t Tread on Me (Part 2)

Please read Part One before continuing… Societal unforgiveness is further tightening its coils through microagression theory.  Dr. Derald Wing Sue says, “Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, non-verbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.”  Sue…

Read More

“Don’t Tread on Me” (Part One)

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”  This old saying nails a core human issue (as old sayings often do!)  Amidst more fashionable issues like global warming, social justice, and gay marriage, I fear plain ol’ forgiveness is an afterthought.  Yet our old saying captures two things about forgiveness: 1) It is fundamentally important; 2)…

Read More

Catholic Bishops Respond to The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) recently rejected the traditional definition of marriage in one of their decisions.  Many celebrate this decision.  Even as I write, I am forced to view a rainbow banner across the top of the page, something WordPress has inflicted on all its users.  (If you feel this is…

Read More

Babylon Is Fallen!

We are going through Revelation in church.  Last week we started chapter 17 about Babylon, “the notorious prostitute” John sees riding on the back of a scarlet beast (Rev. 17:3).  John is told this whore “has an empire over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:18).  The fact she rides the beast emphasizes this–the beast…

Read More

Hymne to God the Father

Sketch by Patrick Murphy Hymne to God the Father Before time your counsels chose that you would lose eternal ties with your one and only Son. Not sparing Him, you let the whips fall and the blood drip. Judges condemned as the priests quipped. On a dark hill, like Abraham, you left your Lamb. No bright…

Read More

The Holy Pigeon

Years ago, when I read about the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus during His baptism, I imagined it like this: A sparkling white dove wreathed in sunbeams came down through the clouds at escalator speed, wings flashing up and down in slow motion. It was a glorious, calendar-worthy, photo-op moment. All of that changed one…

Read More