One of the axioms of life in my family is that we are convinced our mother understood the deep and true nature of Thanksgiving turkey stuffing. All other efforts to match my mother’s culinary masterpiece are vain attempts at best and heretically sacrilegious at worst. And it is not just questions about stuffing that vex us – think about the local, never-ending debates here in Tampa about what constitutes a Cuban sandwich – and that is before we even get to the question of which one is the best. We might be willing to compromise our positions on turkey stuffing and Cuban sandwiches – but what about religion? Religion and what constitutes right and true religion is as troubling a question – and that is before we consider what that religion demands of us. And woe to us if we lose our way on the question of Religion. Continue reading
Category Archives: Sunday Morning
Cornbread Wars
In religious circles, there is always a lot of talk about orthodoxy and orthopraxis – believing rightly and doing in accordance with those beliefs. Some would say that is only the concerns of theologians and pastors, but this measure of the integrity of being concerns far more than the loft musings of the things of faith. It pervades our life (thank you Melissa Banseiver for the story of “Cornbread Wars”)
The Solemnity of the Assumption
Much of our religious consciousness is affected by art; we have inherited specific images that are more artistic than biblical. For example, we always imagine St. Paul being knocked from a horse on the Damascus Road. There is no mention of the horse in scripture. Is that a bid deal? Perhaps not. But when Caravaggio placed Paul on the horse, a sign of privilege or royalty, he removed Paul from the midst of Corinth, the hard-scrabbled sea port town, from among the drunks, slackards, ner-do-wells, and people who sorely needed salvation. Continue reading