Category: Culture
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…by his faith…
I imagined that decades of Holocaust documentaries, dramas, books and my own visits to Dachau and Yad Vashem had me innoculated against strong emotional reactions to presentations about the Shoah. I was wrong. Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein present a jarring look at the Holocaust in a global and in particular American context. […]
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Was 9/11 the Last Sign of “Christian America”?
The arguments fly back and forth about America as a “Christian nation.” On the right, it is an imagining of the past: an appeal for return to a once muscular moral order that, in the model of the Bible’s Book of Deuteronomy, brought national prosperity as the reward for obedience to standards revealed by God. […]
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DC Serves up Bovine Wine
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right! (Isaiah 5:22-23)… Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring, […]
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Unbecoming
I watched the first season of Becoming Elizabeth on Starz. Well done, although the cruelty that is presented (necessary to the story as it conveys the events and the times) appeals less and less to me as I age. Maybe I’ve grown as a disciple of Jesus; maybe I’m just more sensitive to pain and […]
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Gold and Silver Pieces, Anyone?
I replace the filter of our HVAC system every six months. Back in December, I picked up the filter for $48. As you can see in the picture, the same product in June cost $70. I don’t need to flog the cost of living statistics, as we’re all living them. But the mounting prices made […]
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Shhhhh…
Then Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peteranswered, “The Christ of God.” And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one… (Luke 9:20-21) Does his hush-hush to his original apostles extend to his followers today? Should we be mum about the Messiah? No and […]
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Peak Experiences
Decades ago I read the memoir of Sir Edmund Hillary. He described an interlude in his adventuring during which he went home to New Zealand. What chased him back to adventure was waking up one morning “hungover” – not just from alcohol but from rich food and assorted “good things of life.” A friend and […]
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The Great Ones
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the […]
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Two Kinds of Tombs
Yeah, Christians stew about all the same crud that upsets our neighbors. We’re human, distracted, flawed, idolatrous, deceived… But we’re also in a 50 day celebration of Jesus’ empty tomb – his victory over all of our death dealing stuff (the crud in the first paragraph above and oh so much more) and his leading […]
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