We can think of Lent as a kind of “lifting-up.” This is literally what “Carnival” means (see my post here), but it can be helpful to help us understand Lent as well.
Read moreLifted-up Lent
p/c Orkhan Farmanli via unsplash
Transfiguration leading down into Lent
p/c Allesandro Bellone via unspalsh
Like Peter we finish-off the season which included Candlemas, the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, the Wedding at Cana, and Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue that he has come to proclaim good news to the poor and freedom to the captive, with awestruck desire to keep it going like this: “Let’s build three tabernacles…” (Matt 17:4). But keeping it going like this is not the answer. The tabernacle served for a season in God’s story to keep the glory (Ex. 25). But now we come to that moment where the glory must break-out (Is. 9:1-2, 58:8; Matt. 4:16). We can no longer be kept safe from its fiery burnings, from the living flame of love (Ex. 3:2-3; Song. 8:6; Is. 33:14).
Read moreCarnival: Count-down to Lent
p/c Nacho Diaz Latorre via unsplash
“Carnival” today often conjures-up the worst images of Mardi Gras celebrations: drunkenness, debauchery, sequin-laced costumes, gaudy masks in diamante, etc. Unmoored from the Gospel Carnival loses its Christian origin and becomes little more than a kind of sad “last hoorah” before the severities of Lent, a Barnum and Bailey inspired revolt against the upcoming sobriety. Carnival and Mardi Gras have become in their modern forms the epitome of what Guy Debord criticizes in The Society of the Spectacle…
Read moreWasted time
p/c Jon Tyson via unsplash
…in our efficiency addicted culture in which all our minutes must weigh on the scales of utility such moments are fertile for frustration. “Waste of time!” we mutter under our breath when the TSA agent pulls someone aside and stalls the line. We look-up “life-hacks” (wicked terrible evil phrase) to help us avoid the waste of time —which help us make all our moments of waiting ultimately productive and efficient. “Because we look at life exclusively from the perspective of work and performance, we view inactivity as a deficiency that must be overcome as quickly as possible” explains Byung-Chul Han (2024: 1)…
Read moreRepost: Offering our lights to God on Candlemas
p/c Marcus Wallis via unsplash
Lights and voices.
That is what we bring to Candlemas: lights and voices. We offer to God the sound of our human voices which is the true and laudable sacrificial act of giving God ourselves in a very real sense —an act to which all of the bloody sacrifices of the Tabernacle pointed. The human body is, as Peter Leithart and Jim Jordan have argued, the original instrument.
Read moreOur vigilance is nothing if it is not merry; Or, be like Gandalf
There seems to be much talk today in the way of “vigilance, sobriety, alertness.” On every side sounds some call towards activism. We are come to the breaking of the epoch, it seems, and all around are horns sounding, calling us to action. Activism —of some ill-defined, generic and weary kind— has become our corporate steady-state. Uncountable for me are the number of recent sermons, essays, forms of punditry, videos, media posts of various kinds, etc. which begin along the lines of “it is important for us, in this moment to make sure we…” followed by some call to action…
Read moreEpiphany brightness
p/c Julien DI MAJO via unsplash
…some things are mysterious because they are shrouded and enigmatic. But other things are mysterious because, like the sun, they are so real, so apparent, so obvious that I cannot gaze directly into them…
Read moreNot a nice Christmas
“The Last of the Spirits”, illustration for Charls Dickens’ Christmas Carol by John Lech
The word “nice” is a rotten term. Originally it meant “foolish,” being an English word composed of two Latin terms: “ne” (“not”) and “scire” (“to know”). Over time it developed in meaning to its current form meaning something like “kind” or “good” but without any of the substance of kindness or goodness (see the entry for “Nice” at the Online Etymology Dictionary).
Read moreRooster, witless, hails the morning
p/c Anton Darius via unsplash
Listening to Dcn. Ben chant the Magnificat on Sunday, after hearing the whole story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation, I was reminded of a scene from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King:
Read moreAdvent rest, brief notes
p/c KaLisa Veer via unsplash
There is a lot of talk today about “un-hurrying” and of “resting.” The general sentiment seems to be that we do not know how to rest in society today. I think that, generally, this is true. We are increasingly anxious, inundated, exhausted, and fatigued. And that is not how God meant for things to be. That is also not how he has called us, Christians, to live. I do have an increasing concern, however, that much of what is offered as alternatives to our over-labored condition is actually not rest —actually makes the problem worse. Advent gives us a good time to re-orient ourselves towards biblical rest, and not merely to the bundle of sabbath-less practices on offer in consumer culture which, while masquerading as rest, only make our restlessness worse. As we continue to journey through Advent I’d like to offer a couple of reflections on ways in which, this season, we can enter more fully into God’s rest.
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