The republicans in Congress have once again proven to us that they are willing to sell out the most vulnerable among us to give a break to billionaires. Hard to think of anything less Christlike from the party that so loudly claims to represent Christian values.

When the question at trivia is “what are the last 5 letters of the Greek alphabet?”

“If being kind is cringe then we are going to be cringe.” Parenting in 2025

MAGA in two pictures: 1. Elon Musk, who donated millions to Trump’s campaign, is being allowed to dismantle agencies designed to protect people, agencies that just so happened to be investigating wrongdoing in his companies. Do you think that’s a coincidence?

Our 15 year old is keeping track of possible Taylor Swift references from the Super Bowl announcers. So far she’s heard, “Let the players play,” and “death by a thousand cuts.” Anybody else?

The Trump admin has reinstated an individual who posted nakedly racist comments on social media. Explicitly racist people are deeply involved in this admin. I’m not saying that everyone who supports Trump is nakedly racist, but I am saying that naked racism is not a dealbreaker.

One of the most heartbreaking things about *gestures to everything* is that we are actually capable of so much better. We could choose to embrace compassion over fear, shared humanity over manufactured division, but we’ve chosen not to.

Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate in the late 4th century, complaining about Christians. “For it is disgraceful that…the impious Galileans support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see our people lack aid from us.”

One reason I’m so frustrated with our current political reality is that it doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to let the billionaire class distract and divide us by scapegoating immigrants, trans people and DEI programs while they pass tax cuts for themselves and pad their profit margins.

So in the last few days we’ve seen “Law and order” for immigrants. “Mercy and forgiveness” for American citizens who stormed the capitol and violently attacked police officers. You see the double standard, right?

The unhinged responses to Bishop Budde’s very reasonable and biblical sermon are just further evidence that so-called Christian nationalism is just plain ole nationalism with a thin Christian veneer. It has little use for Jesus beyond a mascot in its quest for self-serving power.

Feel like posting this again today for no reason at all.

I think an interesting an interesting thesis would be to consider the impact of the creeds (which are quite silent about ethics, love, and the actual life and teachings of Jesus) on Christian Nationalism, which is also conspicuously lacking Jesus.

When I was a kid I liked to study magic tricks. I learned that one of the keys to pulling off a sleight of hand is distraction. All this talk of taking over Greenland and Canada and changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico makes me think about that. And maybe this is the move it’s hiding?

It’s a real humbling moment when you realize you’ve temporarily forgotten how to do long multiplication with bigger numbers 😅 #snowday

Generally speaking, billionaires and corporate executives don’t have our best interests at heart, but they do have a vested interest in keeping us divided over culture wars. I fear that until we realize this, we’ll have trouble escaping this mess.

Health insurance companies exist to make a profit. To do this, they must bring in more than they pay out. They have a vested financial interest in denying claims. These are the same companies who decide what is “medically necessary.” Tell me how that’s not an egregious conflict of interest.

Maybe it has always been this way and I’m just noticing it more, but there seems to be a growing tendency to overlook, minimize, or even justify bad behavior when “our side” does it, and I’m afraid of how that worsens the already alarming loss of any kind of shared reality.

So here’s the thing…even IF there wasn’t a parable *explicitly* undermining this narrow idea of neighbor, Jesus also said “love your enemies.” There’s simply no escaping the fact that Jesus calls us to radically expand our concepts of love and hospitality.

Really wild over on that other place watching as Doug Wilson and James White and company scrambling as they are getting devoured by the monsters they created.

These charts are occupying my headspace. So many people voting against their own values due to misinformation.

The degree to which Twitter may have desensitized us and normalized toxicity…

Sermon notes: unity doesn’t erase diversity, it erases inequality.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see that there are two movies engaging in complex discussions about faith and religion in theatres right now. I highly recommend both Conclave and Heretic, though, be warned, Heretic is a bit of a thriller/horror.

I hear this is where the cool kids are hanging out now.

I asked AI to create an image of "theology in a vacuum" and this is one of the images this was one of the results 😅

We're going to get stuff wrong. Every single one of us. We're going to err. But what if made the decision that if we're going to err, we're going to err on the side of love?

I'm thinking this morning about how much religious fundamentalism, especially among laity, is rooted in fear and how that fear becomes a prison, keeping people trapped in the system.

A big announcement: links in the following comments if you want to learn more of help support.

Happy Sunday. Don’t forget, love wins.

If public schools are going to utilize online platforms as the only method for students to access their assignments, then access to high speed internet in the home is a necessity, and, therefore, a justice issue.

I’m not sure there’s a single sentence in biblical studies with more dense, yet subtle shade than this one. @mattthiessen.bsky.social

“The reason there are hungry, sick, and needy people has nothing to do with the availability of resources.” - Bart Barkhauer

“One of the most flawed theologies is to ask God to do what God has called us to do.” - Rev. Dr. William Barber

Thanks @cowboygeek.bsky.social for the invite!