“Christ ascended into heaven,” the creeds tell us, “and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”  Salvador Dali’s “Ascension of Christ,” (1958) disorients the familiar story from Acts by reorienting the perspective of the disciples from our accustomed view.  The spatial metaphors of up and down are replaced by vaguer categories of near and far as Christ is drawn beyond us, beyond our reach, beyond our knowing, beyond our control into some other time and some other space.  A brooding, almost ominous figure waits, accompanied by the Holy Spirit.  Certainly, it seems, there is no immediate welcome for us across this boundary, at least not yet.  And the terrain of this place is surreal, unclear, unlike, wholly other.  There is, let’s face it, something rather disturbing, though perhaps quite honest about this image of

Read more...

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Prophets. Forty years ago I was introduced to this important book in my Introduction to the Old Testament class at Yale and found that it spoke to this first year M.Div. student in ways that the storied Germans von Rad, Westermann, Gunkel and company did not. Their tomes, as crucial as they were to Biblical scholarship, dutifully read and underlined, have not survived my multiple moves and winnowings over the years. But Heschel maintains in an honored place on my bookshelf, brought out from time to time to instruct, inspire and more often to admonish, not just because of what he teaches about the biblical prophets, but even more because of what he tells us of God.

Central to Heschel’s reflection is the notion of divine pathos seen not as an

Read more...

Last Sunday’s Chicago Tribune included a magazine insert titled Chicago’s Best Lawyers.  This is apparently part of a nationwide survey in which lawyers are asked to evaluate their peers.  The insert is a glossy production that essentially advertises Chicago firms.  There are lots of pictures of lawyers, some among those named “best,” others simply representing the partners in the advertised firms.  My guess is that this survey is about as useful as the more well- known US News and World Report survey of top colleges and universities, recently caught up in scandal when a top tier school was exposed for misrepresenting the data it sent in for evaluation.  Still it was a striking visual representation of the legal profession.

Normally I’d quickly toss this in the recycle bin while moving on to more important matters like the Cubs’ ineptitude this April.  But I was caught by

Read more...

It isn’t an easy time to be a Christian in the Middle East.  In Egypt, the Coptic Orthodox and the small Evangelical community share the aspirations and disappointments of the Arab Spring, but also feel vulnerable in this transitional time as the previous accommodations both with the secular government and the majority Muslim communities have been deconstructed leaving a future arrangement yet to be negotiated.  The American invasion of Iraq unleashed sectarian and political violence that has made life nearly untenable for the ancient Christian population, their numbers plummeting due to the violence affecting all Iraqis as well as attacks and threats targeted directly at them.  In Lebanon thriving Armenian Orthodox, Greek, Maronite, and Evangelical communities, both Armenian and Arab, watch their members emigrate in the face of an uncertain political future that seems suspended between an unstable and increasingly volatile Syria to the

Read more...

Wrapping themselves in the mantle of martyrs of the English Reformation and the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for a “Fortnight for Freedom” to be observed from June 21, the feast days of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, a Catholic Archbishop and a Catholic lay person remembered for their resistance to the Protestant reforms of the 16^th century, and Independence Day on July 4  The goal of the fortnight is laid out in a lengthy Statement approved by the bishops in late March and made public last week titled, “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty,” (http://usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/our-first-most-cherished-liberty.cfm).  While one might wonder why there has been no “Fortnight for Economic Justice” during growing economic disparity and despair or a “Fortnight for a Just Peace” in the last decade of wars

Read more...

Join us for the 141^st NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits at America’s Center in the heart of St. Louis, April 13-15, 2012

With over 500 exhibitors covering 340,000 square feet of exhibit hall space, educational seminars, celebrities, and fun filled special events, bring the whole family – there will be something for everyone!  Spend the day exploring the products from every major firearm company in the country, book the hunt of a lifetime in our exclusive outfitter section, and view priceless collections of firearms in our gun collector area.  You’ll also see knives, wildlife art, shooting accessories, hunting gear, ATV’s, and much more! (NRA website)

It’s nice to know the NRA wants to be family friendly!  When they are not busy distorting the Constitution, pressuring politicians to pass dangerous laws like Florida’s “Stand Your Ground,” challenging cities like Chicago

Read more...

In the church of my baptism and childhood confirmation took place on Maundy Thursday. Following a series of classes held in Dr. McGown’s study – our first intimate experience of the beloved pastor who, at least for young people, was a bit remote because of his age and stature – we stood before the congregation in the darkened sanctuary on a holy night, the air thick with the aroma of the grape juice that would become our first communion. We made promises to God and to the church; the church made promises to us. Dr. McGown and the senior deacon extended “the right hand of fellowship,” and we were members! (Exploring the theological link between the membership bestowed in baptism and confirmation would wait for much later in my Christian journey.)

In the Congregational churches of my youth confirmation was “formation lite.” We read the Gospel of Mark, studied

Read more...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney got a new heart last week, an organ transplant that is.  I leave the comedic opportunities to Bill Maher and Steven Colbert.  I wish Cheney well.  His struggle with heart disease has been long and difficult, I suspect much of the most painful challenges kept from public view.  That said, I have no interest in seeing him return to the public stage where his smug arrogance has been the face of the deceptions and foolish vanity that led us into disaster following 9/11 and left in their wake such profound suffering. Unless this medical procedure mimics Ezekiel’s prophecy of a heart of flesh replacing a heart of stone, I hope Cheney reserves the gift of new strength and vitality for his family and friends.

The New York Times reports that the typical cost of a heart transplant and the extended years of

Read more...

We sat behind him on the Howard bound Red Line subway car as we rode to church last Sunday.  He lay sprawled and unconscious on two seats, legs stretched across the aisle.  Clothes dirty, unkempt, not stirring, I checked to see if he was breathing when we sat down, not wanting to be among the proverbial onlookers who are scorned in the papers the next day for walking around a corpse, unknowing, uncaring.  He made no movement or sound for most of the trip, though when a young man tripped over his legs he raised himself, confused, belligerent, mouth and fists clenched, prepared to lash out at whoever had violated his quiet tormented space, until he lapsed back down into near coma.  The seats around him on the crowded car remained empty, passengers getting on stopping in their tracks as they moved up the aisle to sit, screwing

Read more...

Forty four years ago tomorrow, March 16, 1968, Lieutenant William Calley led a group of American soldiers into the village of My Lai in Vietnam and embarked on a killing spree that left between 350 and 500 civilians slaughtered.  When news of the massacre finally became public the next year, whatever credibility the war had in the minds of most Americans was gone.  Tens of thousands of young U.S. soldiers had been killed, hundreds of thousands had returned home to scorn or indifference, many suffering physical and mental scars that would last a lifetime.  Miles and miles of countryside had been devastated by B-52 bombers and canisters of napalm. Relentless spin by military and political leaders citing progress in the war and reporting favorable “body counts” fell on the deaf ears of a population made cynical by unfulfilled promises and outright lies.  A war

Read more...