Posts from the Blog of an (un)Tamed Cynic
This is another “lost” post from the end of 2012. This train of thought was prompted by reflection on my grandmother’s death and the opportunity I had to officiate her funeral. She was quite certain about what awaited her on the other side. I, on the other hand, am deeply agnostic about what happens to [...]
Yesterday, after 26 years as its pastor (and almost 49 years of ordained ministry), John Buchanan preached his final sermon at Fourth Presbyterian Church. It was a stunning and emotional day. Indeed, it was the end of an era. Over the course of three worship services, over 2600 people filled the pews for this historic [...]
Yesterday, the last US troops left Iraq after a bloody war that lasted nearly nine years. After losing almost 4500 American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives—the gap between those numbers is staggering—I hope it was worth it. Reflecting on yesterday’s news brought me back to 2003 and 2004, when I was a [...]
Here on the other side of Black Friday, it occurs to me that the holiday buying season has replaced Advent as the way our culture prepares for Christmas. I realize that this is no revelatory observation or particularly keen insight. It’s been clear for years that in our post-Christian society the commercialization of an essentially [...]
Like many people of my generation, I grew accustomed to getting most of my news on television or by reading headlines on websites or news apps. After I became a more frequent rider of Chicago public transportation, I also became a regular reader of the free commuter newspaper RedEye. For non-Chicagoans, RedEye mixes digest versions [...]
