Safe Haven

 Most people who are living for money or prestige have found ways to make it sound like that's not what they're doing. We have somehow created a culture that tells us that our value is tied to what we do, or what we are able to do for someone else. The truth is that my value has been established by something done for me, completely independently of my ability to do anything. Jesus died for you and me when we were His enemies, and even now, it is not an ability inherent to me which allows me to accept the gift that Jesus gives. It is a grace which reaches down to me, to ennoble me beyond what I could ask or imagine. As I think about pushing back the dread with some distraction, or some pleasing error, the evil of which is not always apparent, it is this condescension of God that I am aware of now. In more ways than one, I am the cripple invited to the King's table, the descendant of the king's friend. I bring him nothing, and he sets before me a feast, in commemoration o...

"Who do you say that I am?" This is the fundamental question Jesus is asking each one of us. In life, we have these moments of unbelief, where what we say doesn't match what we do. What truly moves me? Is it fear? Is it some need I don't think God can truly fill? Fortunately, even if we have been Peter, denying Him three times, Jesus doesn't keep score. He can set things right with his merciful gaze. Every moment is a new opportunity to receive Him, to rest in the Beloved.

I'm fairly certain the microwave heated my Ramen noodles to roughly 4000°C. I thought, "Well, if I want to taste anything anytime in the next year, I should probably wait." I left it aside, and I wrote an email. [You wanted to hyphenate that, didn't you?--ed.] Yes. Anyway, emails take comparatively forever. This particular one was going to take 20 minutes, at least. And that reminds me, no, I did not add vegetables to my Ramen noodles. I have no idea when this particular abomination started taking off. I'm not opposed to vegetables; I like them. I decidedly do not like them in other things. Being an observant Catholic who keeps the Friday abstinence all year round, my conviction on this point deepens. You can season anything you like; you can put butter on anything you like, but I want to taste whatever it is I happen to be eating. I don't want to go on an adventure. I know the texture and taste of the foods I eat, and I don't like surprises. Maybe the ove...

Probably not. Admittedly, I have a holy picture of Him that looks rather Northern European. That is, white. Among the three choices I had, that one looked the least kitschy. I can still recognize Him, you know. I’ve seen an East Asian Jesus, Black Jesus, and others. If—more accurately—He looks like a Jew or an Arab, what is that to me? He still asks me, “Who do you say that I am?” When Saul of Tarsus was arresting and killing His followers, Jesus asked, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” He repeated it. He personalized it. Anyone who is dehumanized has a friend who understands in Jesus. We take the risk of politicizing Jesus, because that’s what He did. From the Roman Empire, to Mexico during the Cristero War and beyond, declaring, “Jesus is Lord!” has often cost people their lives. He still says, “You would have no power over Me, unless it were granted you from above.” When we traffic in racism, or even make excuses for it, we are Herod; we are Pontius Pilate. We really are on the...

I think both of these things were invented to mock me. The first thing I want to do with a dust jacket is pull it off. I suppose people invented these things so they could write exciting blurbs on the inside of the book. We all have to eat, I understand. But I've never thought, "This book would be so much less dusty if it had a dust jacket." And another thing. Has anyone ever been glad to have to turn in the newspaper to read the rest of a story? Has anyone ever enjoyed the effort of holding pages together? I had those "choose your own adventure" books when I was a kid; in that case, flipping around was the point. And if being able to separate out the sections is the point, then why not one staple in the middle of the paper, which is easily removed, if desired? I suppose as a good curmudgeon and Luddite that I should lament the decline of the newspaper, but at the moment, I am quite thankful for their online iterations. I know John Q. Tech Support isn't ...

Patrick Deneen, call your office!  [You probably think he has a phone with a cord, too.--ed.] It's Deneen; of course he does. He probably pedals to work like Fred Flintstone. [Doesn't Dr. Cross actually do this?--ed.] Yeah. In case anyone cares, it makes more sense to just hand poor people money, to make them not poor. Liberals need to stop trying to be "reasonable" with their economic agenda. Their political opponents don't care what works, anyway; they'll change tacks as necessary. Sorry. That's how I see it.

I meant to say this yesterday, and didn't get around to it. Have you ever noticed that sometimes we get into trouble when we just don't believe that our lives are going anywhere? "What's the point?" And I want to think about it beyond just the theological virtue of hope, mainly because I have probably asked for an increase of hope a million times in some formal prayer setting. I know I'm not the only one who has said things in prayer without thinking about them. And so I just asked, in plain words. I asked to be useful, and to know that I had a purpose. I know it seems a little dark, but I'm always honest with you. And seriously, how many of us feel this, and we don't do anything, or say anything, least of all to God? God is real, and He is here. In some way, we have to get beyond the, "thou shalt nots" and get to the heart. I'm not chasing some mystical "righteousness" of my own, but to be completely loved in the Beloved. M...

One of the things I have no time for, as I spend more and more days growing into the label of a "theologian," is when I see people using theology as a way to run from themselves. Sometimes, they build extra fences around things, perhaps to keep away from sin, or to craft a carefully curated image of themselves. But the truth of who God is reveals who we are. There is no truth revealed in Jesus that ought to be used as a weapon against another person, or frankly, against ourselves. The Holy Spirit shines a light on us, so that we might go toward Jesus, and to be more like Jesus. I won't say it's always a painless process; in fact it never is. Yet there is a generosity in God that exists in no one else. OK, there is a generosity in the saints, but that is the power of God in them, not a power that they natively have within themselves. My invitation for you today is to abandon whatever is fearful, selfish, and worldly that happens to be dressed up in religious clothi...

In the spiritual life, the focus is often rightly on the things we get wrong. In order to progress in that life with God, the first step--which we may never move beyond--is to uproot sin from our lives. We can't live in the truth unless we acknowledge the reality of who we really are. All that is to say, examinations of conscience are really good things, and if we should find that we are far worse than we imagine, we should not lose heart, because Jesus already knew that, and died to save us anyway. Yet I also think that self-hatred is often worse and more dangerous than a blissful pride. In the past year or so, I have really doubted the things I like about myself, the things that are good. I think I have thought of something that I really appreciate about myself, and I'm going to share it. I know there is risk that people will say that I'm incorrect. Oh, well. I would never intentionally disregard the thoughts and feelings of another person. Now it is fair to say tha...

No, I don't think I will join that political debate group, even if it is filled with Catholics. Maybe I should say, "especially". I know what right-wing Catholics are like right now, and I don't like it. If I'm frank about it all, I don't trust myself to be kind. I'm liable to say something outrageous just to make a point, and then have to correct myself later, and probably apologize. If I'm completely honest, I didn't have better luck with left-wing Catholics, either, when I was in one of those groups. Just to be specific, there is no universe where I will be attacking Raymond Cardinal Leo Burke, even if I disagree with him. And if it is the left-wing fashion now to attack everyone personally who does not agree with you 100%, I don't have time for that. I don't need to spend my time "discussing" things with people who are not actually open to changing their minds. I'm not necessarily open to changing mine; so what are we ...

I'm just going to speak from my own experience here; if it doesn't fit yours, that's fine. As the old saying says, "Take what you want, and leave the rest." I think what is interesting about having a more or less permanent stable disability is that I take steps to transcend the particular challenges that I face, and once I do that, to me, my experience is "normal". I don't deny my disability, but I've gotten used to it. I've also talked to several friends in a similar situation, and when we lose the ability to do things, we react very much like an able-bodied person would. Anger, denial, and all the other stages of grief. It's a human tendency to have expectations for how life is going to go, and then when we face a major disruption to that plan--at least as we visualize it in our minds--it's a challenge. In a certain sense, being a Christian at the same time as all of this is taking place is the worst, because we have these notio...

Or, I don't know . Is he Catholic? [It seems like it. Maybe we can have one fully Catholic person in the Op./Ed. section of the New York Times.--ed.] Oof.

Biden is winning. Although I think that Real Clear Politics is trying to hide the magnitude of the trouble that the president is in, it is becoming clear that the turf upon which the election will be fought is the wrong turf for an incumbent president. All the swing states are right-leaning states, and Biden is winning them. This is not exactly damaging my "Hillary Sucks" theory of the 2016 election. Trump is going to have to win back some actual moderates, in order to prevail. There are two problems with this: firstly, the electorate does not generally like President Trump. Secondly, they do generally like Joe Biden. He had a lot of goodwill before he was Obama's vice president, and a good deal of that remains, or has even increased. The middle of the electorate does not believe that Joe Biden is a radical. The only way that Trump prevails is to convince the electorate that only he stands between the country's certain destruction. I wish him more than a bit of sarc...

This is a fair warning that you may be the victims of a tortured analogy or two, drawn from geeky pop culture. One objection to a fairly open, porous border as I laid it out was that terrorists and sex traffickers could easily take advantage of an easier system to harm the people that they intend to harm. The problem with this argument as it is made in defense of the current restrictionism is that it is unfair to assume that many or most people that border agents would encounter are actually sex traffickers, or terrorists. I think a reasonable person could take steps to apprehend those engaged in such illegal activities, if they have probable cause to believe such a thing is taking place. It is not however appropriate to make the United States nearly impenetrable for legal immigration, simply for the sake of catching a few sex traffickers or terrorists in disguise. It is not difficult to make a superficially plausible argument for a flagrantly unjust policy position. No one would deny-...

And I'll tell you why. This immigration system is still a brutally unfair racial quota system, that basically doesn't allow very many people in general to come to the United States legally. If that weren't enough, I have to somehow take Donald Trump morally seriously, when he wants to make it even harder to legally immigrate to the United States. If I were running from drug gangs in Mexico or Central America, or trying to escape crushing poverty, yeah, I might sneak across the border. If we had any sort of sensible immigration policy that was generous, just, and fair, I might be more inclined to take a more hard-line position. Also, to treat asylum-seekers the same as those who illegally cross the border, is unconscionable and indefensible. I know it's a right-wing party game to make fun of "international" anything, but if I were in charge, the United States would not even be contemplating breaking international law. I don't think we should act like pariah...

There had been a fashion for a while to appreciate Michael Bolton ironically, and he's a good sport about it, so you can almost imagine the comedy gold that results. But I was growing up listening to the radio during the peak Michael Bolton time; he's great, as far as I'm concerned. He sings, and I feel things. I guess somebody more "woke" than me will go on about how "blue-eyed soul" is cultural appropriation. And maybe it is. I spent a good portion of my childhood and adolescent years appreciating Black culture. I'm still kind of doing that, to be honest. I digress. An old friend announced his engagement yesterday on social media. I said I was "Michael Bolton on Dancing with the Stars" excited, which is a lot. You can blame Tommy Mottolla and Walter Afanasieff, I guess. It was in the air; what can you do? He'll never be my absolute favorite, but I like and love so much music that this doesn't say much. I'm a big fan. I...

There's no way I'm listening to this. [No way, I agree.--ed.] I suppose I could still publicize it, though. Do you recall if I said anything offensive? [The amount of time you can talk is offensive enough.--ed.] I had fun, though! [You always have fun at other people's expense.--ed.] I guess I can't argue with that. I hope this episode doesn't start brawls in the streets, or lead to the cancellation of Luke's podcast. Although if it did, I would be morbidly pleased with myself. [Wait until the Reformed watch-bloggers get a hold of this!--ed.] I know, right? Then again, they'll probably just blame the resulting social chaos on Jason Stellman. [Touche.--ed.]

One interesting thing about the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 can get overlooked. The leaders of the people are once again muttering, asking in their hearts--and maybe out loud--if Jesus knows that he is welcoming a sinner. Jesus answers by saying that salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. It was the social system that put this into doubt, not any confusion about the man's identity. So many times, we are confronted with the temptation to exclude someone from the mercy of God, because they don't appear to deserve it. However, does anyone deserve it? Suppose Jesus just came over to your house. He simply invited himself. I doubt we would feel worthy, but it is the quality of faith to welcome him. A faith that lives is a faith that desires Jesus. That desire is shot through with hope, because hope disregards unworthiness, in order to seek communion. They tell us in spiritual discernment to ask God to let the good desires grow. That principal desir...

I realized the other day that I don't recognize a middle ground on this. You're either for me, or against me. We all have disappointments and disagreements with those we love; most of that just rolls off, either with time, or experience. But if I have a doubt about whether someone cares about me--no matter the motivation--it's just over. I can remember being trained in evangelism when I was young, and we would often talk about not making people into "projects". The trouble was, I think we actually did a lot of what we said we did not want to do. I definitely work with the notion of "insider/outsider." You can give me advice, criticism, or whatever you like, but you better be an insider. You had better know your place. We all do this, even if we don't talk about it. But I'm getting to the point where I say exactly what I think, even if it sounds "arrogant" or any other words somebody would like to use. It's funny to say this no...

You get a lot of "first openly gay" or "first openly…" something in the popular culture today. I think there is a Christian tendency to try to celebrate that, as if we want to signal, "well, we're not the kind of Christians who would tie Matthew Shepard to a fence and beat him to death." As if telling someone that homosexual relations are contrary to God's law is equivalent to murder. It is actually a gift for someone to tell you that you are a sinner, and that you need to turn around. There are lots of hateful people in the world, who can get an issue right, but with the wrong heart. That is true. But we are hopelessly naïve, if we don't think and recognize that "first openly gay" language is an invitation to celebration. It forms a liturgy of affirmation. It forms a counter-liturgy of alternate practices pertaining to the human body. The best you'll ever get from me, in response to the homosexuality of some famous person is, ...