I want to circle back to a theme that clearly resonated with people in my post on Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce last week. It’s a concept I’ve come to now understand has a name: “Freudenfreude.”
Loosely defined as:
“Taking joy/pleasure in…
I want to circle back to a theme that clearly resonated with people in my post on Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce last week. It’s a concept I’ve come to now understand has a name: “Freudenfreude.”
Loosely defined as:
“Taking joy/pleasure in…
I’ve been writing longform over on Facebook for more than a decade now, but never had anything approaching the reaction to this week’s post on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
10,000 shares?
Are you kidding me?
Wowza.
So…
The United Methodist Church is now a Center-Left denomination.
America is a Center-Left Nation.
These are the twin theses I want to put before you today.
After the past several years of bitter and partisan theological infighting, our separation into…
Read moreLet’s talk Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and a very specific freaking out happening right now. Because it’s a NEW kind of freaking out. It’s not the same old “Taylor-hating.”
And I think I know exactly what’s driving it.
The world…
Read moreWe saw the “Tina Turner Musical” this week, and a brief moment of the narrative has stayed with me, touched me deeply, and seems to speak deep truth about our need to be entertained, and perhaps even our continued fascination…
Read moreDallas awakes to snow and ice, and flurries continuing to fall as I write, and I’m here to update you again about our ministry helpful our houseless neighbors.
Yesterday, it seems to me, was one of those both beautiful and…
Read moreDuring this Christmas season, I’ve written meditations on one of my favorite literary works of all time:
WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB)
Here are links to each section.
Feel free to keep this page handy, for easy future…
The Final Section of WH Auden’s “For the Time Being” (FTTB)
(For the Previous Section: Click Here.)
So finally, today, I offer a our final mediation on this great Christmas Play.
Those who celebrate the Commercialist Christmas —who believe…
Read moreSection Eight of WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB)
And so, after the theological/philosophical ramblings of the last section, WH Auden returns us to the characters again.
Let’s get to it.
First, as I’ve done with other sections…
Read moreSection Seven of WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB)
(For the previous section: Click Here)
I should say from the outset that in my many readings of FTTB, I often skip over this entire section. It’s always felt…
Read moreTHE VISION OF THE SHEPHERDS/AT THE MANGER
Sections Five and Six of WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB)
(For section four: click here)
Well, I’ve gotten a bit behind schedule, and so we’ll cover two sections today. But…
Read moreTHE SUMMONS
SECTION FOUR OF WH AUDEN’S “FOR THE TIME BEING” (FTTB)
(For Section Three, click here)
After a break for New Year’s weekend, let’s continue with our conversation about WH Auden’s “For the Time Being,” (FTTB) and section…
“THE TEMPTATION OF ST. JOSEPH”
SECTION TWO OF WH AUDEN’S “FOR THE TIME BEING” (FTTB)
(For Second Two, click here)
As I’ve already said previously, this is my favorite section of the entire poem, and a bit of writing/theology…
“THE ANNUNCIATION”
SECTION TWO OF WH AUDEN’S “FOR THE TIME BEING” (FTTB)
(for section one, click here)
Auden locates the Annunciation in “The Garden,” which we seem led to believe is Garden of Eden. In that Garden, each of…
“Silent night, Holy night…all is calm, all is bright.”
Just days from now —and like Christians all around the globe— we’ll sing these words on Christmas Eve. We’ll light our candles, hold them high, and experience a brief, blissful moment…
The Sunday before Advent starts, we actually get a pretty good reminder of the power of Incarnational Seeing. Incarnational seeing is my language for what others call the spiritual practice of “paying attention.” There is a lot of buzz in…
Read more“Die Hard” is to Christmas movies, what this song is to Christmas music.
Listeners will no doubt forever debate whether it is, or is not, a Christmas song. One thing is clear: It definitely creeps into playlists this time of…
Read moreOn this Thanksgiving morning, I’m posting a picture that shows you what I see every day as I am driving home from North Oak Cliff. This pic from the great Justin Terveen shows a much more swollen river than usual…I…
Read moreToday is the sixty-year anniversary.
Sixty years is a very long time.
But, for all of us who grew up here in Dallas, our city still lives with the legacy of the Kennedy assassination.
This is a very old song…
Read more