Hey – it’s Friday! And if you’ve had anything like the week that I’ve had – which doesn’t actually mean that it was bad, just crazy busy – you’re probably ready to draw this week to a close and head into the weekend. Or, to put it another way, you might just be ready to shake this week off. And speaking of shaking it off – and having a really good laugh on a Friday afternoon – if you haven’t seen this dashcamera video of a Dover policeman singing to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.” Four minutes of unbelievable good humor. I’ll be honest: I’ve been...

It’s Friday, the end of a long week, and time for a mental health break and a little humor via Ellen Degeneres and a video of the reaction of a four-year old to the news that he would soon have another new sibling. After watching the first video, including Ellen’s interview with him, you can also watch when Ellen shares a surprise with him and is mom. Heart-warming indeed! Have a great weekend!     If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click the title at the top of the post in order to watch the...

On this, St. Patrick’s Day, I think it’s worth recalling that St. Patrick is known not only for converting Ireland to Christianity, and not only for banishing all the snakes from Ireland, but also for being a major advocate and defender of the Doctrine of the Trinity. Which, when you think about just how difficult a feat that really is, may be the most stunning element of Patrick’s resume. For how do we explain or even understand that God is one God, indivisible, and yet also three persons, distinct in identity? When I was a child, my Mom tried to help me understand the Trinity by comparing it to water. Although H2-O is one...

At first, I wasn’t sure whether to put this under preaching, or maybe worship, since that’s the ostensible subject matter, or humor. But of course it is about humor, both 1) the effective use of humor to make fun of ourselves and our world and invite us thereby to imagine different possibilities and 2) what can go happen when the joke goes awry. Sometimes humor fails because it’s not done well – a poorly told joke or ill-timed punch line. Sometimes it fails because the hearer doesn’t have enough context to make sense of it – the “you had to be there” humorous stories usually fall into this category. And sometimes it fails...