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This thing has feathers. (pinned post)
Tags: UncategorizedYeah, yeah, I misquoted Dickinson. (She wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers,” not “Hope’s the thing…” But this is a meme I made a while back that isn’t really a meme because it’s not meming, but it does seem, unfortunately, to be evergreen: Feel free to use it if you like, though.
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Merry Christmas! God is with us!
Gaudete! Christus natus est! Alleluia! Tonight God’s purpose in creation is fulfilled. I love this gaudily-colored painting from the reredos of one of the side-chapels in my church. Christ is born, and everybody, human and otherwise, has shown up to celebrate! I’m reminded of a phrase from the requiem Mass (quoting from the Psalms): Ad te…
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Ruinenlust—Taking pleasure in ruins
Tags: UncategorizedThis post is adapted from one of my comprehensive exams in my doctoral program. What does it mean to take pleasure in ruins? There’s a German name for it: ruinenlust. It turns out this is pretty much a European (and European-American) phenomenon, born out of a Romantic sensibility—that is to say, it’s relatively recent. Taking…
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Lift Every Voice for Charleston
Tags: Theological reflectionI have a friend who believes the correct response to whatever befalls a community of faith is: “What, then, shall we sing?” This morning in church, many of us throughout the United States joined in solidarity with the congregation at Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC by singing the great hymn, “Lift…
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Pentecost—It’s a beautiful day!
Tags: UncategorizedHere in Detroit, the gorgeous weather we’ve had this weekend is starting to gear up for the thunderstorms that are predicted over the next four days. But luckily, I’m not talking about weather. I’m talking about the feast the Western Church observes today. In my own Episcopal church, we dress up the church (and sometimes…
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Being there
“I probably shouldn’t be grinning on Good Friday,” I said to the Dean after today’s Good Friday service. But one of the features of bipolar illness is that sometimes you just aren’t in charge of your emotions. On a day like today, when I’m teetering on the edge of hypomania, sometimes I just feel giddy,…
The Sound 