Antonio Brown is, or maybe was, a an amazingly gifted wide receiver in the NFL. Also greatly troubled on and off the field. This past Sunday, Brown, who had been playing for the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, just up and quit. In the middle of a game with the New York Jets, he quit. He took off his helmet, his jersey, and his pads and walked off the field. After the game his coach said Brown was no longer on the team, but who knows. I am not a sports columnist, so go to ESPN or google “Antonio Brown” to get the latest news on the great quit.

Who hasn’t felt like just quitting? Oh, maybe not on national TV, maybe quitting a bit less dramatically than Antonio Brown, but who hasn’t felt like just quitting? Sometimes quitting might be the best thing to do – quitting a dead-end job, an abusive relationship, or an addictive habit. But that is not the kind of quitting I am talking about. I am talking about “the easy way out” kind of quitting.

I am about ready to quit this pandemic. I am tired, if not of the helmet and the pads, then of the masks and the worry. I am ready to quit. I might pull it off. Our pantry is pretty well stocked and, retired, we really don’t have to go anywhere. At least until Omicron peaks, we just might lock the door on the cocoon and wait it out. See you in February. Continue reading →

We know intuitively when it is an “oops” or something more.  Burning the toast is an “oops.” “Oops” won’t do for burning down the house.  Not getting the lab work done on time is an “oops.” Amputating the wrong limb is more than oops.  When the liturgist bungles a line from the Lord’s Prayer, that’s an “oops.”  When a preacher builds the sermon around denying the divinity of Christ, “oops” should not satisfy the Elders of the church.

Our world is not very tolerant of “oops.” When all of us are victims of one sort or another and ideological purity is demanded in every corner of our lives, “oops” become high crimes and misdemeanors, the treason trials begin, and the grand inquisitors expose the heretics among us.

Maybe I’ll make being more tolerant of “oops” a New Year’s resolution. Continue reading →

“Think a Little Bit” is the Comments Section handle used by a New York Times reader in Illinois.  And that’s all we know.

This past Sunday “Think a Little Bit” commented on a column by Ross Douthat and the comment made it to the “Times Pick” list.

Douthat, a practicing Roman Catholic, may be the most conservative of the Times’ columnists, and regularly speaks about things of the faith and of his church.  The headline, whether Douthat’s or an editor’s, was click-baitish enough, “Can Politics Save Christianity?” I took the bait.

The column was Douthat’s Christmas column and ended with a warm “Merry Christmas.”  In the column Douthat wrote about the politics of his local parish in Connecticut and connected them with things happening in the whole world.  Implicitly, the piece argued for the importance of Christianity and the church to the wellbeing of the whole world.  I suppose that is what prompted “Think a Little Bit” in Illinois to respond.

Mostly off-topic, TALB in Illinois wrote, “I would like to know – is it possible to be a good person without fear of hell or reward of heaven? I believe it works for me – I don’t need religion or God to want a fair and kind world for all of us.”

“Nails it!” responded DeeK in Seattle. Continue reading →

Becky and I are recently back from a trip to Memphis and a pre-Christmas visit with our daughter and her husband and our soon-to-be-four-year-old grandson Theo.  Much of our time in Memphis was taken up with dinosaur hunts and serving as part of Theo’s fire brigade.

Theo has been fascinated by fire engines, fire-fighting helicopters, and firefighters for more than half his life.  Our recent service on the fire brigade consisted mostly of Theo providing the siren noise to our living room sofa fire engine and then taking our hoses (Brio train tracks and Duplo pieces work, but the rubber snake was the best) and spraying water all over the burning forest, building, or occasional parking lot.  Once in a while we might rescue a kitten trapped in the top of a burning-or-not tree.

Theo loves fire engines and playing firefighter.  The siren noise and spraying water is the main point.  There’s never been a kitten in a treetop or a man in a burning building who has not been rescued by Theo’s intrepid brigade.  Any damage caused by the many fires to which we responded seems to have been repaired as quickly as Wile-E-Coyote recovers from a TNT explosion. Continue reading →

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Not everyone in our families and neighborhoods, let alone our whole world, recognizes the words from Luke 2. But for many of us, the scene is set and we need hear nothing more to remember the story of the angel’s announcement of a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And, by the way, one contemporary version’s “wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough” just won’t do (CSB).

Repetition plants words and phrases good or bad in our hearts and minds Those good words and phrases have the ability carry through hard or joyful times, while those other words and phrases perhaps trap us in despair and anger. As with so many things, it is not a matter of “if” so much as it is a matter of “what.”  Not if we will remember certain word or phrases, but what words and phrases we will remember.

We do well to remember the words of Scripture, for they will encourage us when we must walk through the valley of the shadow of death and will give voice to our joy when we remember God’s love and mercy which is new every morning – great is his faithfulness! Continue reading →