Once there was, and once there was not, an artist. He was good — very good. He painted beautiful scenes and portraits. He had some wit and whimsy about him: Always, whether at the center or somewhere hidden, his paintings included the faces of those he loved. His wife and children. Or his dog. His […]
How Can the Gospel be Good News Again? St. Athanasius of Alexandria
We Christians proclaim “the gospel.” The word means “good news.” What happens when what we tell the world sounds old and worn — not “news” at all. Worse still, what happens when what we say doesn’t actually sound “good” to people? Sometimes looking away from our tracts and truisms, looking back to what Christians used to […]
My Problem. Whose Fault? (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 7)
In Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” members of an urban gang consider the source of their problems. They sing it all to their favorite cop, Officer Krupke. Here’s their first theory. I’ll call it “Krupke, 1”: Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke, You gotta understand, It’s just our bringin’ up-ke That gets us out of hand.” Many […]
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Heidelberg Catechism and the Law of God
You see someone looking in the mirror. Looking. Looking. What is he thinking? Better still, what are you thinking? Too much attention to his reflection — easy to suppose he likes what he sees. We mock the self-absorption of mythical Narcissus, falling in love with his reflection in a pond. But we also fear what […]
Where Did That Mess Come From?
In the novel Leaven of Malice Robertson Davies has one character tell another You are in a richly varied mess, true enough. But, much as I like you, I am clear-eyed enough to see that it is the outward and visible reflection of the inward and invisible mess which is your soul. What fascinates me is Davies’ […]