The Crossings Blog

Colleagues, Last week Craig Simenson critiqued American funeral practices, Christian ones included, for their failure to take bodies with the seriousness that bodies deserve, even when they’re dead. Today he starts challenging us to do better than that. See below for his cogent argument A little more about Craig: raised in Wisconsin, he majored in Political Science ...

Colleagues, A brilliant full moon made shadows on the snow in Northeastern Ohio a week ago last night. The sight was beautiful. Tonight we’re well into the waning, a persistent reminder to people like me, on the far side of 45, that darkness comes soon. Too soon. Our topic for the next three weeks is death, and God’s response to it ...

Colleagues, I don’t mean to confuse you.  When you get to today’s offering, you’ll see immediately that it was keyed to last year’s celebration of the Reformation.  Why then the “Lent” of the title above? Answer #1: because it is Lent. Answer #2: because the essay you’ll be reading revolves around Philippians 2:5ff, the classic Epistle for Palm ...

Colleagues, I don’t mean to confuse you.  When you get to today’s offering, you’ll see immediately that it was keyed to last year’s celebration of the Reformation.  Why then the “Lent” of the title above? Answer #1: because it is Lent. Answer #2: because the essay you’ll be reading revolves around Philippians 2:5ff, the classic Epistle for Palm ...

Colleagues, Here’s the continuation of the essay that we launched you into last week.  It was delivered by the undersigned at last month’s Crossings Seminar in Belleville, Illinois.  As I write this, ill winds from the north have their icy claws on a major hunk of the U.S., including northeastern Ohio, the corner I’m tucked away in. ...

Colleagues, We’ve been away, though not loafing. My co-editor, Carol Braun, was busy serving the Lord last week by bringing her first child into the Lord’s world. Solomon Porter Zimansky was born on February 7. Mother and son are both well, God be praised.  Carol is presently on maternity leave, also from Thursday Theology. As for me, I’ve been busy first with ...

Colleagues, All that clinking of glasses on New Year’s Eve seems to have encouraged the runner Time to quicken the pace. As I write we’re scarcely a week away from the annual Crossings gathering at the Shrine of our Lady of the Snows, Belleville, Illinois, across the river from St. Louis. The first of these happened ...

For our first post of 2015, here at last is the “Fuller Version” of Steve Kuhl’s explanation of the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, written for publication on the Crossings website. He passed it along to us at the same time as the “Simple Version” that we published in Thursday Theology #843. Note, therefore, that this ...

First, a note to thank all those who wrote in with feedback on Steve Kuhl’s “Simple Version” synopsis of the distinction between Law and Gospel. I’ve passed all of your feedback along to Steve. Second, an apology for not getting Steve’s “Fuller Version” out to you last week. It will come next week. Until then, please ...

Colleagues, First came America’s Thanksgiving—a Thursday holiday, for those of you in other lands—and then a week more filled than usual with demands of the regular calling. So again you saw a gap in posts. Your editors, grappling with the fullness of life on the one hand and their limitations on the other, have been mulling ...