Category: Christianity

What’s in Your Blank?

peyton_bio.jpgWhen Indy’s Joseph Addai scored the winning touchdown with one minute left in last night’s NFC title game, Colt’s quarterback Peyton Manning fretted that too much time was left on the clock for New England’s Tom Brady to once again work his magic.

Manning then returned to the bench, bowed his head, and prayed.

With 16 seconds left and the Patriots threatening, Indy cornerback Marlin Jackson intercepted a Brady pass at the Colts’ 35 yard line. Game over. Prayer answered.

Or was it?

After the game, Manning opined on the intersection of sport and faith:

“I don’t know if you’re supposed to pray for things like that.”

… Read the rest

Holy Mondegreens, Batman, Here He Goes Again!

In addition to the ones I wrote about last year, here are a few more:

  • Give us this day our deli bread.
  • Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Whole East Coast.
    • We shall come to Joyce’s, bringing in the cheese.
    • Gladly, the cross-eyed bear
    • Yield not to Penn Station.
    • Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures, HERE WE GO!
    • Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names
    • While shepherds washed their socks by night

    Any worthy contributions to this list will be rewarded with a life sentence subscription to my blog plus a signed copy of my world-infamous Christmas family newsletter.… Read the rest

    You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!

    Tis the season for the Sojourner Class at our church to watch some Christmas movies and try to unpack a few spiritual lessons. Last year, we spent a few weeks watching It’s a Wonderful Life, and so far this year we’ve viewed and discussed clips from Miracle on 34th Street and The Bishop’s Wife.

    christmas_story_c.jpgThis Sunday we’ll be watching A Christmas Story. As you might recall, that’s the one where little Ralphie Parker (played by Peter Billingsley) sets his heart on the mother of all Christmas presents: “an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and ‘this thing’, which tells time.”… Read the rest

    Seeing a Sermon

    Our search for a good Yuletide fix led us yesterday to the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church in downtown Huntsville for their annual performance of The Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival. Being both a medieval aficionado and a lover of pomp and circumstance, this is one that I simply don’t miss. I mean where else can an old Latin geek like me belt out lyrics like these at the top of his lungs?

    Caput apri defero

    Reddens laudes Domino!

    That phrase is from “The Boar’s Head Carol” and translates roughly to “Lo, behold the head I bring, giving praise to God we sing!”… Read the rest

    Lux Aurumque

    nativity-church.jpgThere’s nothing like soaring choral music to get one’s Advent Season off to a good start.

    Yesterday, I put Alabama’s coaching woes far behind me and dove headlong into Advent by attending a concert of the University of Alabama at Huntsville Chorus and the Huntsville Youth Chorus at the historic Episcopal Church of the Nativity in downtown (kudos to RocketCityPoet for the stunning view of Nativity above).

    Small in numbers but large in both volume and spirit, both choruses hit several high notes, including such classics as Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium and Vilvadi’s Magnificat in G Minor. Throw in some rousing audience participation on favorites like O Come, All Ye Faithful and Hark!… Read the rest

    I’ve Been Hooked

    To all you Bama and Texas Longhorn fans who stopped by yesterday (and who are still showing up today) scouring for scuttlebutt on Mike Shula’s replacement–thank you very much.

    Not since the Nancy Grace/Church of Christ fiasco last March has my sitemeter sang such soaring soprano; 348 unique visitors, 597 page loads–an all-time Ocular Fusion record.

    It seems that my post on Shula’s firing was hooked, so to speak, to a Texas message board mainly due to my passing on the rumor about Paul Bryant Jr.’s jet sighting in Austin and speculation over whether or not some university representative was there to pitch the Alabama job to Texas HC Mack Brown.… Read the rest

    You Gotta Have Faith

    Time magazine recently hosted a debate on God and science. The participants were scientist and committed atheist and philosophical materialist Dr. Richard Dawkins, author of the recently released book The God Delusion, and Dr. Francis Collins, committed Christian and Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

    It’s worth reading all of this if you have the time since it’s very uncommon to see two such articulate spokespersons on opposite sides of a contentious debate actually talk to each other rather than past each other. I think you’ll agree that this article represents a rare sighting of civility in the American public square.… Read the rest

    Is Nothing Sacred Anymore?

    halloween-1998.jpgThere’s a bowl nearly full of Halloween candy on our kitchen counter. It’s not supposed to be that way, you know. But last night, we had a grand total of 10 trick-or-treaters knock on our front door and accost us for candy. What a bummer.

    When we moved into this neighborhood 11 years ago, our street was the place to be on Halloween night. The sidewalks were packed with moms and dads escorting cute little ghouls and goblins from one house to another. It was one of the few times when everybody was out–a block party if there ever was one–and the spirit of community mingled freely with the other shades and shadows conjured up on those crisp, moonlit fall nights.… Read the rest

    Wainwright Saves

    jesus-saves.jpgInto the sea of Cardinal red which filled downtown St. Louis during yesterday’s victory parade and celebration waded Dave Finke of Maryland Heights, Missouri. For Finke, a sidewalk evangelist, the “fields were red unto salvation.”

    Hopping aboard a pair of stilts for maximum visibility, Finke carried a “Jesus Saves” sign in one hand and a cross in the other. He ambled about among the revelers, a veritable John the Baptist crying out in a wilderness of concrete, glass and steel.

    Several partygoers stopped to have their pictures taken with Finke and engage him in conversation. Others offered up their own commentary asides as they passed him by.… Read the rest