[Here's an oldie-goldie from my still-extant but no longer updated blog exploring Christian feminism, "Are Men Really Human?"] Today, a dear friend unintentionally brought me face to face with my own anger. I had sent her links to an article blasting her ministry as unbiblical and “liberal.” Indignant, I was [...]

When I heard about the Boston marathon bombings — it happened via TV in a North Dakota seniors’ residence my wife’s parents live in — tears lept to my eyes and that terrible, familiar taste of 9/11 rage rose up inside. This time there was no creepy Osama bin Laden [...]

There’s a man going through your dust bin Only this time he’s looking for food There’s a tear in his eye, you don’t know him Oh but you know what he’s going through Ain’t it funny that you can’t seem to help him Bein’ sick as he staggers away Is [...]

Formerly of the Canadian super-group “The Guess Who” (American Woman, Hang On to Your Life) Burton Cummings’ pop sensibilities are exhibited here. Almost too much so, except the lyrical content which offers a less settled, gritty experience that might be conversion and might be at least a conversation. I’m Scared [...]

Every teen has his idols; Alexandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), famous author who was imprisoned for years under the Soviet regime, was one of mine. I bought volume one of his grim, great Gulag Archipelago (Prison Islands) trilogy, and it spent the summer of 1974 with me. I sat in our old [...]

I think a lot about the hardness of human hearts. I feel oppressed, depressed, beaten down by the many examples of “man’s inhumanity to man.” I look in the mirror and see someone looking back at me whom I at times do not know. That face doesn’t tell me anything [...]

Think you’re holding a theological ace? First, no you aren’t. Second, God doesn’t play cards.

Dave Brubeck, jazz great, has passed today at the age of 91 (just shy of his Dec 20 birthday). My favorite work of his is “Take Five” (a fairly predictable but also sure-fire choice). Here, however, is “Silent Night” — appropriate both seasonally and because as far as we are [...]

Can We At Least Agree On This? (c) 2012 Jon Trott / Music for Dystopians, Inc. Listening to Boney M sing about Zion’s Daughter Watching Gaza Mother hold her remains after slaughter I wish I had the Spirit of Christmas instead of breaking down Words from another piece of trash [...]

This strange mix of musical joy and lyrical sorrow from Boney M is without a doubt my favorite disco-influenced “Christian” song. I can play it over and over….