Category: Christian Life
The Discipleship of Work
When we moved to our farm several years ago with a toddler and newborn in tow, we mainly had it in mind to experience a bit of the country life: to plant a large garden and perhaps raise a few...
The Cross in Our Calling: A Reflection on Mary’s Magnificat
Mary is chosen for the sacred work of bearing the Incarnate Son of God, and the unforgettable words we know as The Magnificat come tumbling out: And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God...
What Can Contemporary Christians Learn from the Desert Fathers and Mothers?
I am a working pastor. That means that I have joined the company of those for whom the care of souls is the sum and substance of the job description. It is our life’s preoccupation, our central work.
Our Spiritual Malaise
“There are some people [that] tell us that they are tremendously interested in the gospel as a point of view, as a Christian philosophy…Christianity is to them a matter of tremendous interest and they believe and proclaim that if only...
Threnody for a Good Man
Mat Feltner died at a hospital in Lincoln this week. Obviously it wasn’t Feltner himself — he lives nowhere outside of the mind of Wendell Berry, the pages of his novels, and the imaginations of the many thousands of us...
Speech Without Accountability: Reckoning with Anonymous Christian Trolls
Our church invited Aimee Byrd to speak on Sunday morning several weeks ago. It wasn’t the first time. It won’t be the last time. While we only ordain men, we also allow non-ordained individuals to teach our congregation periodically—including women....
Waiting Tables as Soul Craft
During college, I became convinced I would become a consultant. I wasn’t pre-Med and didn’t want to join the Peace Corps, so this seemed to be the best (and only other respectable) option. I listened with childlike wonder as consulting...
The Contradiction of Healing Prayer
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” I think about this verse often. I am not sure who counts as a righteous person, and I’m not sure how to qualify “working.” The sentence before...
Seminary Anxiety
Everyone here bites their nails. I first noticed this last Fall and the realization was at once troubling and consoling. Troubling, because this is a child’s bad habit; consoling, because at least I’m not the only one who hasn’t used...
This Is My Body Given for You
On the night Christ was betrayed by Judas, Our Lord celebrated the Passover with all of his brothers, including the traitor himself. Other than the disciple Jesus loved, eleven of His chosen men would later abandon him. In light of...