casual theology

I received a flyer in the mail from a local non-denominational church advertising their services for the holiday season. These mass mailings aren’t all that unique, many churches, Protestant and Catholic, send them out around Christmas and Easter as a way of reaching out to people who may be looking for a place to worship. But this flyer was a little different than others that I’ve seen and it got me thinking. Here’s part of the text from the flyer (I changed the name of the church): Go ahead. Sleep in on Sunday. Whether you like the idea of sleeping in, want to free up some extra weekend time for that family gathering at the in-laws, or are just heading out of town on the weekends. Whatever the reason, find some extra peace from the holiday hustle with us on Thursdays at our Early Weekend Service.   We’ll have the same great kids environments, same great coffee, same great music and teaching you’ve come to expect from Relevant Church…Now on Thursdays, too. ...

Where have all the good men gone And where are all the gods? Where's the street-wise Hercules To fight the rising odds? Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night He's gotta be strong And he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light He's gotta be sure And it's gotta be soon And he's gotta be larger than life   - “I need a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler We have become a culture of the anti-hero. Three of the top five grossing movies so far this year are: Captain America: Civil War , Batman vs Superman , and Deadpool . These movies present traditional heroes at war with each other or a lead anti-hero character who has no good moral character of his own. As Fr. Longnecker over on Patheos has so eloquently pu...

When I was about six or seven years old I loved Superman. I wanted to be Superman. One day I made a cape out of a bath towel, climbed up on my twin bed next the window, grabbed the string attached to the curtain rod, tied it to the belt loop on the back of my jeans, and jumped off the bed expecting to be suspended in the air so I could “fly” like Superman. Unfortunately, the belt loop ripped from my jeans and I belly flopped onto the bedroom floor. No super powers for me. What’s your favorite super power? Flying? Super strength? Invisibility? Wouldn’t it be great to have a super power? Steve Rogers was the proto-typical 98-pound weakling. He had a brave and heroic spirit, but physically there’s just not much to him. Steve was selected to take part in a secret government experiment. He was injected with Super-Soldier Serum and subjected to Vita-Rays. Steve was transformed into Captain America, a super soldier with super strength. When we receive the sacraments we go thr...

I'm probably going to catch some flack for this. As I woke up this morning I was greeted with the news that Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in Pakistan. I watched the news as I was getting ready for work and listened to the radio on my drive to the office. I was struck by a couple things. I must admit that I felt relief that bin Laden was dead. While I recognize that terrorism will continue after his death; I appreciated the sense of justice and closure brought by this news. I was disheartened by the reactions I witnessed in the news reports. People were gathering and chanting 'U-S-A! U-S-A!" and singing "God Bless America" in the streets. While I can understand their sense of relief and even victory, something in me just didn't sit right with the idea of celebrating the death of another person, even if that person was bin Laden. There was just something in me that immediately recognized that this was not a "Christian" response to this news....