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Happy (or Distracted) New Year!

Simon Winchester complains the typical New Year’s celebration has reduced to little more than an excuse for unrestrained drunkenness and revelry. He lays blame for this woeful development partly on the example of the Scottish who have long treated the occasion as an opportunity for drinking . . . . Continue Reading »

Sermon for St. John’s Day

Here is a great sermon from my colleague, Rev. Christopher Esget, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Alexandria, Virginia.Readings for St. John’s Day: Rev. 1:1-6; 1 Jn 1:1—2:2; Jn. 21:20-25Beloved, today is St. John’s Day, the beloved disciple of Jesus and the man inspired by the . . . . Continue Reading »

Saint John’s Day: December 27

Of the Twelve, John alone did not forsake Jesus in the hours of His suffering and death. With the faithful women, he stood at the cross, where our Lord made him the guardian of His mother. After Pentecost, John spent his ministry in Jerusalem and at Ephesus, where tradition says he was the bishop. . . . . Continue Reading »

God’s End Game

I was thinking of using the title “From Providence to Eschatology” just to make things sounds more theologically rich.  Then I though, “So what?  Who cares?”There is a step between Christmas and Pentecost, between Israel proper and the church that might be . . . . Continue Reading »

St. Stephen the Protomartyr

Today is the feast of St. Stephen the Protomartyr in the eastern church. The western churches celebrated his feast day yesterday. His story is told in Acts 6-8:1. One element of this episode has always puzzled me. Verses 2-4 of Acts 7 tells us:And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples . . . . Continue Reading »

Are Plants Ethical Beings?

I have written extensively about how the Swiss Constitution declared the legal intrinsic dignity of individual plants (and an ethics committee declared the “decapitation” of a wildflower to be immoral ). I have also written how Nicaragua’s new constitution created the “rights of . . . . Continue Reading »

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