Despite what some members of my own family think, It’s a Wonderful Life is the best Christmas movie ever made. Not the cheeriest, but the best. But as I watched it again this Christmas Eve, it struck me that what makes it “the best” has changed for me over my own life. When I was … More Twelve Days: A Wonderful Life?
My favorite, strangest, most intermittent podcast dropped an episode today. That’s right, for the first time since January, there’s new Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz to enjoy! As Sam Mulberry and I continued my quixotic quest to find a rhyme (in English) for my odd last name, we riffed on six words, most having some kind of COVID … More Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz (COVID Edition)
As we reach the last week of spring classes at Bethel, Chris and I devoted part of this week’s episode of The 252 to talking our students through their final exam. But the rest of you will want to listen in for what follows: a conversation about e-sports with our Bethel colleague Adrian Smithee, who has … More Thursday’s Podcast: E-Sports
I can’t seem to go more than a month without recording a podcast, but I can go a bit more than a year without recording my least consistent podcast series, Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz, in which Sam Mulberry and I jokingly continue our futile quest for words (in English) that rhyme with my last name. In … More Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz (Episode 5)
This weekend I’d like to take a break from That Was The Week That Was and share something lighter… For those of you who aren’t Twitter, here’s a recent thread of mine: a perhaps not-quite comprehensive list of depictions of Charles Lindbergh on film and TV. (You can tell that I’m not much of a … More Silver (and Small) Screen Lindberghs
For a post that was dashed off around 8pm on a Friday night, my explanation of how the Covenant Church taught me that “I’m a Pietist” got a remarkably strong readership. Clearly, it struck a chord with others who cherish that heritage — but perhaps also some who are new to it. Perhaps some who … More So You Want to Learn More about Pietism…
God, give me an uncomplicated faith — if only for a moment. That’s what I prayed this morning as I attended the annual Minnesota Prayer Breakfast, a now 59-year tradition whose participants “gather to work and pray for unity so that they can come to know [God] and have their lives transformed by his love.” … More On Prayer, Death, and Resurrection
I’m not sure why early April seemed like a good moment to devote part of a 252 episode to film… but I’m glad we did! This week Chris, Sam, and I each nominated three films for a hypothetical Mount Rushmore of sports movies. Vote below for your top four choices! More importantly, we talked about the mythic … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Sports Movies
I love magic. That’s what Harry Potter murmurs at one point in The Goblet of Fire, the fourth story in J. K. Rowling’s series. The wizard-in-training walks into what had looked like a tiny, nondescript tent and finds that it is impossibly large and opulent. I love magic. I’m not sure how I can explain this, … More The Magic of History
After spending about 6,000 miles on the road, visiting a dozen states (and the District of Columbia), preaching three sermons, and reading through thousands of documents in dozens of boxes of Charles Lindbergh papers, I’m finally back in Minnesota. We’re only about a month away from the start of fall classes at Bethel, so I’ll … More A Deeper Dive into “Why We Teach”
The Pietist Schoolman 