Chronic fatigue is the steady state of us moderns. We are always tired. Of what, though? Few of us labor the long hours of our forebears or people in other parts of the world —we’re not baking bricks, we’re all pharaohs now. Entertainment and luxury industries have accelerated the rate at which we have access to leisure goods. We live longer, have more stable health-care systems, and wider access to food and water, generally speaking.
Read moreKiss of death: Judas, Joab, Michael Corleone, and Romeo and Juliet
When I say “kiss of death” the first popular image that comes to mind is the scene from The Godfather Part II when mob-boss Michael Corleone kisses his traitorous brother Fredo, marking him-out for slaughter. “I know it was you Fredo! You broke my heart!” Michael’s kiss brings death.
Read moreDavid's census: a brief lesson on rage and algorithmic governance
When we hear the word “Rage” we think something loud and obvious; we think red-hot anger and raised voices; we think clenched fists and things being slammed. And that’s right —in part. Sometimes Rage looks like these things.
Sometimes, however, Rage takes other forms —forms to which we are blind because we inhabit them every day. Sometimes Rage looks like cold calculation, naked power, slow violence, and systemic control.
Read moreA farewell address to all the things I will give-up during Lent
Good-bye, little comforts, for a time.
Read moreLove keeps time
Immature lovers say in the fever of early attraction: “I wish this moment could last forever.”
Read moreRoland Barthes and the burning bush
But a love that burns poses a problem. How can flame continue to burn? If it continues won’t it burn-out? And what then becomes of love? Here too it seems many of the social scientists and poets also agree: the thing we call love does not seem to be a thing that can burn forever. Either it burns or it remains. And thus Roland Barthes asks, why it is better to last than to last.
Read moreThe lives of others all over your own
What is hospitality if not the act of getting the lives of other people all over your own? …
Read morePower Point and Epiphany House Blessings
…When did the average pastor stop considering it his duty to regularly, at least annually, visit the homes of his parish?
Historically this happened no less than once a year. At Epiphany the priest(s) would make their way around the homes of the parish, drive-out darkness, bestow a blessing, hedge it with the Name of the Triune God, and meet with the family in the dwelling they called their own…
Read moreUtterly despised
It is because, in thinking that Love is the kind of thing that wealth can buy, that person reveals they do not in fact value love as highly as they appear.
Read moreChristmas Kisses
You can imagine each of these kissings appearing in the Christmas story: Joseph and Mary share a lover’s kiss; the Virgin kisses the cradled head of the infant Jesus; Elizabeth and Mary exchange a sororal kiss of greeting; etc.
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