Always Reforming

We don't have time for parables. For depth. For wrestling with texts or concepts. We don't have time for stories. For good stories anyway. We don't have the mental fortitude for truth. We don't have patience. We can't wait for stories to develop. For details to emerge. For clarifications to be offered. Heaven knows we don't have attention spans! We don't have brains or hearts that seek for more. Our precious freedom to think critically has been exchanged for baubles. Our ability to discover--to explore--has been burgled by complacency and algorithms.   We don't have time for love. For friendship. For community. We have more time than anyone has ever had in the history of the world. Yet We never have enough time. We certainly don't have time for parables.

Why don't modern Christians worship? That question may seem a bit harsh.  After all, nominalism has been a cancer within the Christian Church since at least Constantine's day.  We can't lump committed Christians in with cultural Christians, can we? And yet, even many regular churchgoers seem uncommitted to weekly church attendance, as borne out both by anecdotal evidence and by many studies.  See here , here , and here for examples (do note the encouraging trends among younger generations).  Particularly telling is the fact that what constitutes regular attendance is itself somewhat of a mystery.  Beyond this, stats regarding family worship throughout the week would probably be too depressing to consider.  I think we can agree that that is rare, at best.   It suffices, and is fair, to say that many professing Christians, even relatively devout ones, view regular worship as  optional . Why?  I think there are a few reasons. Firstly, we are d...

Why? Why do Protestants keep joining the Roman Catholic Church (RCC)?   You probably know someone who has converted to Roman Catholicism recently.  You likely have a friend, a family member, or an acquaintance who has taken the plunge and made that difficult swim across the Tiber.  He or she was raised within Protestantism, whether one of the mainline traditions (Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, etc.) or an independent, non-denominational church, but found a renewed sense of faith by "going back to Rome." Perhaps it wasn't Rome.  Perhaps it was another liturgical tradition like the Eastern Orthodox Church (EOC).  I personally have a cousin who became a Byzantine Catholic and a friend who joined the Polish National Catholic Church.  I'm sure statistics would show that these older churches have their own issues losing parishioners, but it cannot be denied that there is a movement, especially among young men and young families, towards the older, more li...

Delivered on as part of The Seven Last Sayings of Christ on the Cross at St. John's Anglican Church in Canton, OH (Good Friday, 2026). After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”  A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. (John 19:28-29) We have all been thirsty, I trust.  We all know what it is like to have parched lips, a dry palate, a frothy tongue.  We all, to one degree or another, can identify with the weakness–the faintness–of dehydration.   Jesus, a genuine human being with a genuine human body that had genuine physical needs, experienced genuine thirst as He hung from the Cross.  He experienced what we experience.  He felt what we feel.  As the author of Hebrews says, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses .  When you’re thirsty after a hard day of work or a ri...

There is nowhere  I would rather be Than snuggled up Beside you Under covers On a cold Saturday morning There is nothing I would rather do Than spend my life Loving you Creating memories Sharing laughs And sorrows There is no one With whom I would  Rather share  My time My heart The long days and The cold nights

Conversions are often for the sake of expedience.  Android users adopt Apple products.  Energy drink drinkers start drinking coffee.  Fair-weather fans join the bandwagon for whatever team seems to be building a dynasty.  People are always changing their allegiances when it is convenient to do so. Religious conversions are no exception.  Such a conversion is often costly, as Christians in places like Nigeria and Pakistan can attest, but it is just as often done for power, money, or respectability.  Christianity, especially the quaint, neo-conservative kind that opposes Commies, supports Israel, and produces alternative entertainment content, is kind of in right now, so it's fair to question celebrity conversions at this particular moment in American history. Much has been made of the fact that Kid Rock headlined a conservative, religious alternative to Bad Bunny's halftime show.  If you don't know, Kid Rock hasn't exactly spent his career creating fa...