“All Around My Hat”: Or, Vital Life Lessons I Learned From Early Exposure To Steeleye Span

I absolutely crazily head-over-heels love the band Steeleye Span. “Who Span?” you say.  “Steeleye what?”  I’m glad you asked.  Regardez-vous. Go ahead.  I’ll wait.  (BTW, the absolute best part of that entire article is the chart at the bottom of the rotating band members.  A FULL.  COLOR.  CHART.  Oh, Wikipedia nerds.  You is my people.) [...]

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“The Golden Compass” – 1. Boycotting “The Golden Compass” – 0.

The His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman – The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass – are on my To Reread This Summer List, and thinking about them always reminds me of something that really annoys me about conservative Christians. When the movie The Golden Compass came out, a TON of [...]

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“The Ragamuffin Gospel”

The five books that changed my spiritual life are: 5) The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris 4) Stranger Music by Leonard Cohen 3) Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller 2) Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and 1) The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning If you are like me and you are the kind of person [...]

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Two Poems about Francis of Assisi I Did Not Write

I bought this amazing book called Francis and Clare in Poetry from St. Anthony Messenger Press while I was at a retreat a few weeks ago, and it’s got some seriously awesome stuff in it – William Carlos Williams, Longfellow, Louise Erdrich, Dante, Seamus Heaney, Billy Collins, William Wordsworth . . . I’m loving it. [...]

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Books and Music

Books and music, some straightforwardly Christian/Catholic, and some slightly more off-the-beaten-track, which have heavily influenced my faith, spirituality & relationship with God – including, but not limited to: The Beatles, cookbooks, Islamic poetry, “Angels In America,” a song about Walla Walla by my friend Mollie, Broadway musicals, a song comparing God to both chocolate and [...]

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Barack Obama’s Inauguration Speech

My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation… (APPLAUSE) … as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition. Forty-four Americans [...]

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The “I Have a Dream” Speech

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” The complete text of the “I Have [...]

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Luke 2:1-14

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the [...]

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In Defense of Patriotic Sentimentality

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers . . . “ “A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people . . . “ “Let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind [...]

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