Tracking Guardians of the Galaxy

This week we bring you a piece by Peter Keyel, an immunologist and Crossings Board member whose most recent contribution to Thursday Theology was an essay on theological resonances in The Hobbit. This week he returns to the well of popular culture, this time by applying the Crossings concept of Tracking to the recent action movie Guardians of the Galaxy.

Peace and Joy,
Carol Braun, for the editorial team

Good News for the Disconnected?

Colleagues, Today’s date calls to mind the evil that still rages in the world, as it always has. I’ve been listening of late to a pair of brilliant podcasts about the histories of Rome and Byzantium. They remind me that the wrath and ruin visited on New York and Washington thirteen years ago is as nothing compared to …

What Happens on the Cross? An Interchange and Conversation, Part 2

Colleagues, Last week we sent you a sharp response by Pr. Richard (Dick) Hoyer to a sermon we had shared with you two weeks earlier (“Why We Ordain,” ThTheol 828; you might want to read that again before going further). In calling the response “sharp,” I mean that in a double sense. First, Pr. Hoyer was unhappy, and he …

What Happens on the Cross? An Interchange and Conversation Part 1

Colleagues, In Part III of the Smalcald Articles, Luther lists what others would call “means of grace,” or as Luther puts it himself, ways by which the Gospel “offers counsel and help against sin.” There are five of these, he says: the spoken word, Baptism, the Sacrament of the Altar, the power of the keys, and “the mutual …

A Rite for Labor Day

This week we’re pleased to bring you a liturgical rite for the observance of Labor Day, written by Steve Kuhl, our Crossings Executive Director. As you’ll see, Steve introduces his rite with some historical context, and he warmly invites you to use the rite in your own worship this weekend if you so choose. Peace and Joy, Carol …

Why We Ordain

Today we bring you the powerful sermon preached last weekend in Belleville, Illinois, at the ordination of Candice Stone (whose writing appeared in Thursday Theology #789).The sermonwas preached by Candice’s mentor and pastor, Ron Neustadt. In it, Ron gets straight to the heart of why we bother ordaining people—what we ordain them to do, and why we so desperately …

Eschatology as a Function of the Gospel

This week we bring you an essay on eschatology by the Rev. Dr. Steven C. Kuhl, the Executive Director of Crossings. It’s an essay Steve wrote this summer, in response to a millennial-aged student (“Kelly”) in his college course called “Introduction to Christianity.” As you’ll see from Steve’s comments, the course uses a textbook called Introducing Christianity, by James …

Adding the Gospel

This week we bring you a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Steve Albertin, whose writing last appeared in this space in Thursday Theology #782. Steve preached this sermon on July 19-20, on the parable of the wheat and the weeds. He introduced it to us in an e-mail as follows: It is an example of bringing to Gospel to …

On Hope and Ignorance: Gleanings from the Mission Field

Colleagues: I’m this week’s writer. On digging in I planned to send along some notes about a handful of items that have snagged my eye in recent months, each sparking some passing thoughts about the mentality that is either emerging or already prevails in the American mission field that most of us operate in. As it happens, I …