Merry Christmas, in Love and Squalor

This is no time for a child to be born […]Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.-- Madeleine L'Engle It goes without saying: Things are not okay. Most people I know are downright soul-sick from ten months of cabin fever, anxiety, ennui, social/physical famine, episodic mental health collapses, and the various forms of unhealthy …

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One More on Advent: the Spirit of Santa, Miracle on 34th Street, Bridesmaids, AA, the Beatitudes, and G. K. Chesterton’s “Unreasonable” Hope

Hope is a strange invention—A Patent of the Heart—In unremitting actionYet never wearing out— -- Emily Dickinson Happy Christmas Eve folks! Christmas is finally almost here, but it turns out I had a few assorted Advent thoughts I still wanted to spew out at you. Here goes… I love the holidays, gaudy kitsch and all. …

My Nine Favorite Sparkling Water Flavors of 2020

Here’s another free advertising post. I used to look down on my nose at people who drank canned sodas all the time—don’t they know how bad it is for their health! But no more. The pandemic has made me a soda addict. Granted, I’m not drinking the old syrupy stuff that gave my grandfather diabetes, …

Stripping Away Everything but the Gospel: An Advent-Tinged Reflection on Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen, Haddonfield, NJ, 1978 Look, I get it. We’re all sick of “Advent.” The liturgical season of waiting may have started less than a month ago, but it feels like we’ve all been living it for the past nine months. And yet, in some sense, that’s the point. This dark wintery season is supposed …

An Alternative Holiday Playlist: 40 Classic Dance Hits That All Have the Words “Boogie,” “Shake,” “Groove,” “Dance,” or “Funk” in the Title

I actually love Christmas music, both secular and spiritual. I’m not a curmudgeon about it. But it’s also nice to mix things up sometimes, and today I thought you might need a little boogie music to liven up your Advent. A couple days ago, Hannah and I were decorating the Christmas tree and listening to …

Stubborn Burros: Why Intrafaith Dialogue May Be More Important Than Interfaith Dialogue These Days

[A]s far as I'm concerned, he can go to hell. -- Fmr. President Jimmy Carter on Jerry Falwell, Sept. 1986 Dialogue across social and political lines often seems to get a bad rap these days. I wish I had counted how many of my social media peers had announced at some point over the past …