The blog of the Rev’d David O. Browder, Rector of St. Thomas’. Law and gospel, grace, pop culture, links to interesting articles and videos.
Guest column by Bethany Getz Almost exactly nine years ago on a sweltering day in early summer, Evan and I drove for miles along Westheimer in a rental car. One-year-old Clara sweated and squirmed in the back seat. Evan was in the midst of finishing up his dissertation and looking forward to his first year…
Now that school is out, summer has begun for many of our families, and so our church summer schedule has begun as well. As people leave for much-anticipated vacations, our Fall, Winter, and Spring programs pull back a bit in order to rest. This does not mean Word and Sacrament cease, however! Far from it!…
A Guest Post from Jennifer Underwood You know those moments in your life where all the different pieces that seemingly have no relevance to each other start to line up and fit together like some sort of cosmic Tetris game? (You know the ones I’m talking about, right? When you’ve been working on one thing…
I am absolutely delighted to announce that The Rev. Geoff Simpson has accepted a call to St. Thomas’. Mr. Simpson will serve as Associate Rector-Chaplain of the School. During the week, he will be working exclusively with the preschool and school, helping us further our mission while providing pastoral care and support to that mission…
CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us: * therefore let us keep the feast, Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; * but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. v. 7. CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more; * death hath no more dominion…
My identity is no longer defined as being “In Crimson Tide” but “in Christ”. It seems at first like ascetic self-denial but it is really the case that I enjoy other things more. I can now enjoy watching Alabama and not be cast down for two months if we lose to Auburn or Tennessee. Jesus Christ as the proper marker for my identity gives me a healthy relationship to good but lesser things like football, money, relationships, politics, and even family. Being “In Christ” is that from which human flourishing emanates.
…my brain thought: “I’ve got no clue how to teach Song of Solomon to a group of kids who are either (a) full of raging hormones or (b) completely repulsed at the concept of love and romance.” And I wasn’t necessarily reassured with the information I found on the internet. And, yes, I checked, and Tim Keller hasn’t written anything about Song of Solomon that I could find. If you’ve never read this book before (as I had not), Song of Solomon or Song of Songs is a short song or poem about “a dude and girl getting together” (to quote one of our kids). While certainly true, the book is about much more, for at its core the writer talks about true love in which the bride and the bridegroom become one and are willing to sacrifice for one another.
“Would you have joined the Resistance?”, my wife asks curiously. “Yes,” I answer with no hesitation. Kari and I are watching The Man in the High Castle, an Amazon Original Series that depicts a what-if dystopia arising from an Axis victory in World War II. The Nazis, after dropping an atomic bomb on Washington, D.C., occupy…
Americans are a hopeful nation. Bill Clinton tapped into a hopeful America with his now famous line, “I still believe in a place called Hope”, referring to his hometown in Arkansas. He created a brand around this small town, a place that he used as an analogy to describe all of America. It worked and it won him the presidential election at a time when Americans were feeling less than hopeful.
Americans want to have hope. As 2017 kicks off every news channel and talk show is talking about new resolutions. A new year, they tell us, means an opportunity to start fresh, an opportunity to create a new you, a new life. Of course, studies show that most of those resolutions fall by the wayside before the month of January ends. I, too, have fallen into this trap in the past. I can’t tell you how many times I have decided to lose ten pounds, work out more, be nicer, stop gossiping, etc., only to stumble quickly. Why is it that the more we resolve to do something the harder it becomes to follow through with that resolution? The Apostle Paul describes this beautifully in Romans 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
My daughter Elizabeth recently stopped sucking on her middle two fingers. It was a habit she adopted within two days of her birth and has served her well in times of need, stress or boredom. As a mother to three children, I was grateful she had this self-soothing technique because it gave her comfort at times when my arms were full. About three weeks ago, the fingers left her mouth and any attempt by me to reinstate her beloved habit has been met with a blank stare as though any muscle memory she may have had that led her to suck her fingers had been erased. And the need it fulfilled? Well, that duty has now been transferred back to me.