A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Church

  • An outing to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

    We had absolutely gorgeous weather here today, so my beloved wife and I decided to take a trip up to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the campus of Catholic University and reputedly the largest Catholic Church in North America. The church is a Byzantine-Romanesque hybrid style with many side Read more

  • Hymn for the day

    Not the one we actually sang today, but I like this one better: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia! our triumphant holy day, Alleluia! who did once upon the cross, Alleluia! suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia! Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia! unto Christ, our heavenly King, Read more

  • Saved by theology

    So, today at church I was roped in to assisting with communion at the last minute, something I’ve never done before. I was distributing the wine, which we do by pouring it from a chalice into tiny plastic cups that people take from a tray on their way to the altar rail. However, if, for Read more

  • Infallible?

    Good post and discussion at Derek’s on “ecclessial infallibility.” I’ve long had the suspicion that infallibility, whether papal, ecclesial, or scriptural, really doesn’t do any work. But I’ve been unable to articulate this to my own satisfaction. Maybe a future post. Read more

  • Christ’s ambiguous reign and living in hope

    Yesterday, of course, was Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the liturgical year before we head into Advent. The pastor at our church delivered an excellent sermon on the different aspects of Christ’s kingship and how we can become aware of them in our lives. Jesus reigns over all things, but he reigns Read more

  • Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway on the current Anglican unpleasantness

    I don’t typically comment on the doings of the Anglican Communion (I’m at best a part-time Episcopalian and you can get plenty of that stuff elsewhere), but I thought this address by the Primate of the Scottish Episcopal Church was good. Maybe it’s just the Scotsman in me that’s partial to it. 😉 Read more

  • Questions for Lutherans (and others)

    Thomas at Without Authority posted recently on the raison d’etre of Protestant denominations. He raised the idea, favored by Lutheran theologians like Jenson and Braaten that Lutheranism is, in essence, a reforming movement within the church catholic. My question, especially to Lutheran readers, is this: Do you still regard the gospel of justification by faith Read more

  • Bishops behaving badly

    Jack Spong publicly insults Rowan Williams and Nigerian bishop Isaac Orama says that gay and lesbian people are “not fit to live.” Of course, the former is merely bad taste while the latter is a moral monstrosity. UPDATE: I should note that doubt has been cast on whether Bp. Orama in fact said the things Read more

  • Bono fatigue

    I was reading this somewhat interesting piece on “emergent” Christians in Austin, TX and found myself pondering a deep mystery: why are all these post-evangelical, post-conservative, post-modern, post-whatever Christians so into U2? “For the emerging churches, (church is) not a place, it’s a people,” Gibbs said. “It’s not a weekly gathering; it’s a seven-day-a-week community. Read more

  • Church shopping: update

    I know I said earlier that we were thinking of reverting to Lutheranism, but after a couple of visits I have a feeling we’re going to end up at St. Paul’s Episcopal on K Street, a venerable Anglo-Catholic parish. For me this is less about a particualr form of churchmanship than what seems to be Read more