The Crossings Blog

Colleagues, Easter themes continue to unfold in this second half of a paper that Amy Schifrin presented at last January’s Crossings conference. As she swivels into a discussion of the Eucharistic gifts we enjoy today, you’ll want to notice how Luke 24:31-32, 35 is lurking in the background. So is John 20:22. That neither is mentioned, ...

Colleagues, I started some weeks ago to pass along the superb presentations we heard at the Crossings Conference this past January. You’ve gotten two of them so far. When I looked again at the one you’re receiving this week and next (again, in two parts), I was startled to see how well it serves as a reflection ...

Colleagues, This will be the shortest post ever. I wish this Easter week merely to pass along a brief essay that a Facebook friend inserted in the daily feed. It’s by one Ian Hutchison, a brother in Christ of whom I knew nothing until today. He teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also brings energy and ...

Colleagues, Here is the second half of the essay you started reading last week. I don’t need to underscore its timeliness for people who are about to meditate on the Passion of Christ, and preach it too, perhaps. You’ll see that for yourself. Savor the gift. As for Rob Saler, through whom the Spirit is delivering the ...

Colleagues, For proof that the spirits abroad in the world are legion, one needs only to listen for five minutes to the current campaign for U.S. president. An astonishing business it’s proving to be—astonishing in St. Mark’s sense of something that befuddles and dismays. As it happens, the further we get into it, the more impressed ...

Colleagues, Today we pass along the second half of the paper Steve Turnbull delivered at the Crossings conference in January. Again you’ll find observations that are sure to prove helpful when Holy Week gets here. I’m thanking Steve right now for focusing my attention on “governance” as a central issue, if not the central issue, in all four ...

Colleagues, I sat, I listened, I learned. That was a month ago, when Exegete Steve Turnbull took the podium at January’s Crossings conference. Our overarching topic was “Law, Gospel, and Holy Spirit,” with a particular focus on the “double life” of the baptized. Steve’s assignment was to get things rolling with an exploration of John 3, ...

Colleagues, If you wonder why the pace of these posts is being suddenly stepped up, it’s because there’s suddenly a heap of material to pass along. Expect to see a temporary return to the old weekly schedule, at least through Lent. Our offering this week is a three-month old review by Ed Schroeder of a recent book ...

Colleagues, I spent some time yesterday smudging foreheads with ashy crosses. Were someone to ask why I did that, I’d want suddenly to hand them the poem you’re about to read, withholding further comment until they’d spent some time digesting it. Then, I think, we’d talk for a while about imago dei, the image of God ...

Colleagues, It’s been a week and a day since I got home from the Great Feast at Belleville, Illinois, otherwise known as the latest Crossings conference. We’d held six of these so far. This was among the best. The main event that kicked off on Tuesday morning featured six riveting presentations, one after the other, by ...