A Communion Plate
The primary formative rituals of the Christian church are baptism and eucharist, or communion. Both have undergone elaborate development in the course of church history, often in ways that markedly …
Guns to Gardens
Last weekend I was at our Peace Conference at Lake Junaluska pounding with a hammer on a red-hot rifle barrel held on an anvil by Scotty Utz, of RAWTools South. …
The Dark Sky of Shelton Laurel
The events of two consecutive Friday nights have convened a conversation in my mind that needs to find its way to my keyboard. A week ago we went to the …
Theo of Golden
I have just finished reading Theo of Golden: A Novel, by Allen Levi (Atria, 2025). Theo is an old man who arrives quietly in a small mid-Georgia city for a late-life sojourn …
Bishops, Kings, and Tyrants
On January 21, 2025, Bishop Mariann Budde of the Episcopal diocese of Washington DC turned to the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump at the end of her homily during the …
Coming to the Table
Three strands of my life have coalesced in the recent publication of two books. First, in 2000 I built my first round communion table, which was followed by several more …
Meeting Roger Williams (again)
I have long known that one of my distant ancestors is Roger Williams, the seventeenth century founder of Rhode Island. (For you genealogists: Roger, Daniel, Peleg, Daniel, Thomas, Mary (Hoag), …
Buried at the Keyboard
You haven’t seen any new postings from me for the past month because my fingers have been busy typing up two books that I probably mentioned sometime earlier. This is, …
Ketoctin Grace
As long-time readers of this blog know, a small brick church in Virginia’s Loudoun County has been a singular presence in my entire life. Ketoctin Baptist Church was founded in …
Mediating the I Am—Some Summery Reflections
On August first the world here in the Smokies seems to pause, take a breath, and then sigh with a slight cool shudder of fall. Global warming might advance that …
Framing Anxiety
Anxious feelings pervade our lives these days. The impending climate catastrophes, the horrors of Putin’s war on the people and land of Ukraine, the Trumpists’ efforts to destroy our republic …
Fetal Personhood?
The US Supreme Court’s reversal of its earlier ruling (Roe v. Wade) upholding women’s right to abortion, has intensified the argument that the fetus, from the moment of conception, is …
Abortion Metaphysics
The life-and-death controversy over termination of pregnancies, as I intimated last time, continually leads me back to the metaphysical disputations rooted in our ancient philosophers. In broad strokes, the controversy …
Tragedy, Crime, and Abortion
We are all acutely aware of how difficult it is to find our footing in this turbulent time. Our eyes and ears are assailed with violence, lies, and destruction, blinding …
The Holy Work of Reparations
I recently finished leading a group of about 20 people here at our church through the book Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair, by Duke Kwon and Gregory …
Of Crosses, Stars, and Peace
As we roll into Advent and Christmas, I have completed the project for Boston University’s School of Theology with a version of the processional cross I made for our church …