It’s hard for me to get too excited about January 1st. I mean, it’s as good an arbitrary point as any to change calendars. So long as we bracket off the fact that — beyond the West — it’s a kind of vestige of colonialism to use that calendar in the first place. So long … More Is New Year’s Day a “Christian Holiday”?
Aside from some Tweeting and Facebook microblogging, I took Christmas week off. But others kept the blogosphere humming… • On Christmas Eve I sang carols about angels and wrote a brief reflection on Twitter and Facebook that concluded with St. Augustine’s famous prayer asking God to “give your angels charge over those who sleep.” But … More That Was The Week That Was
Looking back over my first two Decembers blogging, I’m surprised how many posts I wrote in the week around Christmas. While I won’t entirely rule out a post here or there (Christmas Eve worship inevitably inspires some reflection, continuing a tradition started by the mother who “treasured all these words and pondered them in her … More Christmas Vacation
Here… • Playing Santa for someone who loves to read about history? A few gift suggestions… • Then one more (if that someone is interested in the Jesus People, or just likes well-written religious history). • Choral music, corporate confession, and comfort with paradox… Why I’m almost a Lutheran. • And I celebrated Human Rights … More That Was The Week That Was
“If I had one wish that I could wish this holiday season,” began comedian Steve Martin in a famous monologue from the Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live in 1991, “it would be for all the children to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace. If I had two wishes … More Merry Christmas (just enjoy it!)
12/18/12 – The Winter 2012 issue of Pietisten is now available! In addition to my own piece on experiencing Christian unity in sacrament, song, and service, be sure to check out Bob Bach’s reflection on Christmas and light, Carolyn Poterek’s homily on Pietism as an Ephesians 4 movement, Michelle Urberg’s visit to a late medieval … More New Pietisten!
I haven’t yet reached the point in the blogging life where I feel comfortable enough in my own narcissism to assume that anyone wants to read about my love of cooking or my desire to grow up and be Christopher Kimball, but until that day arrives… Here’s a sort of foodie post that I wrote … More How to Serve a Dickensian Christmas Dinner
Nothing says Christmas in this society like rerunning something you’ve already seen before, so enjoy this repeat from December 2011! Ah, Christmas memories from childhood… Playing elf to my pediatrician father’s Santa at the Children’s Hospital party. Honoring my Swedish heritage by choking down one bite of lutefisk every Christmas Eve. Getting a pile of … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: A Very Nazi Christmas!
So far in this alphabetic tour of my music collection, I’ve discussed a blues-rock album with a great folk-rock track released in 1965 and a folk-rock concert with clear blues influences recorded in 1966. We’re stuck in the mid-Sixties for one more week, but at least we take a break from the roots-music family… The … More Albums A to Z: A Charlie Brown Christmas
The most important historian in my life is the one who described his research project in this way: Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the … More Merry Incarnation
The Pietist Schoolman 