Essay

  Every Tuesday and Thursday I teach a class on the church: ecclesiology. Students don't have a clue what that word means - they take it either because they need it for their major or they need an elective and this one fit into their…

A few years back, every so often, I would sneak over to Oskaloosa, Iowa to worship at a small Episcopal church. I always joke that my 6 years of Catholic school ingrained a desire for "high" liturgy, so every other month I'd head over to…

In the Southpark episode "Britney's New Look" Stan, Cartman, Kyle, and Butters decide to make some money by snapping a photograph of Britney Spears who happens to be holed up in the local Komfort Inn. They eventually make it into her room only to find…

Over the past year I've done much reading and listening to podcasts on the show Breaking Bad. Sunday marked the beginning of the end - the last installment of the mythic transformation of Walter White into Heisenberg. Much is made, by those who care, about…

Heads up... the 80 year old man in me is breaking out this morning. He doesn't come around too often, but every now and again he shows up, rants, and then disappears again. He usually shows up looking and sounding like Jerry Seinfeld, or maybe…

For the past two weeks my family and I have been hanging out in Grand Rapids where I've been immersed in a seminar discussing Eastern Orthodoxy for the West. Generally speaking, the Orthodox have a practical approach to the Christian faith. There are a few…

A few weeks ago Jes Kast-Keat wrote a post about Vampire Weekend's new song "Ya Hey." (You can read it here...) For the past two weeks I've bee listening to it over and over. Its a personality flaw, I hear an interesting song and beat…

We all have biases when it comes to a sense of place. Most of us struggle to break free from false perceptions about a people and a land that we aren't familiar with. I don't blame people for their narrow minded dismissal of the northern…

The calendar says June so I guess summer is upon us. It just doesn't feel like summer in Iowa; the high temperature's been in the 60's all week. Despite the weather the rhythm of summer is starting to settle in. The kids are adjusting to…

A week ago today I was in San Francisco, CA standing on a bluff looking at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful day, about 65 degrees or so, blue sky, with a wonderful sea smelling breeze blowing off of the Pacific. I walked…