Steve Thorngate

So, I'm a dad, and I'm taking paternity leave. It'll be several weeks before I'm posting regularly again.

While my life and mind have been shaped by both American evangelicalism and political liberalism, I feel little personal connection to either C. S. Lewis or John F. Kennedy. Like a lot of people, I have mixed feelings about both men; perhaps more importantly, I wasn't around yet when they died. In any case, neither anniversary made me catch my breath this week. Here's what did: Benjamin Britten's 100th birthday.

Now in his seventies, Aaron Neville can still locate the incredibly sweet spot between full voice and falsetto. The R&B legend’s singing remains mellow but quietly forceful—as if he could let loose at any moment but chooses not to.

The best hyphenated genres don’t combine disparate worlds; they em­brace commonality.

Most Americana duos don’t sound as much like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings as people say they do. But the Milk Carton Kids’ resemblance is uncanny.

Another day, another talented Americana songwriter immersed in the language of a faith he doesn’t profess.

A week from Sunday, on the Feast of the Reign of Christ, Holy Covenant UMC in Chicago—where I work part time as a musician—is holding its second annual service spotlighting the music of Bob Dylan. (Not calling it a Dylancharist.) If you're in Chicago the evening of 11/24, come out and join us. Below is the piece I wrote for the church newsletter.

Malian singer, songwriter, and guitarist Rokia Traoré has long blended West African music with occidental influences. Her fifth album, produced by P. J. Harvey collaborator John Parish, features the strongest rock element yet.

When it comes to weirdly argued crankiness, tsk-tsk-ing about lazy, entitled millennials is a pretty competitive field. But Jennifer Graham's piece last week stands out from the pack: In colonial times, nine out of 10 people worked on food production, hence John Smith’s famous edict at Jamestown: “He who works not, eats not.” (There was no enabling 99-cent value menu then.) The millennials, alas, are trophy kids, a generation spawned not for their usefulness at harvest but because they look so precious in those matching pajamas from Hanna Andersson. No need to respond to most of this, because in the millennial retort category—another tough bracket—we already have a winner.

Christopher Michael Jones is pastor of First Baptist Church of Hillside, New Jersey. He’s used the African American Lectionary—which I wrote about for the Century—in worship, though he doesn’t use it every week. Jones has also contributed to the AAL’s resources. I asked him a few questions about his experience.

"We don’t have to stumble over that word anymore. Marriage will be marriage in Illinois."

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President Obama wasn’t being honest when he said that if you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it. But that doesn't make Obamacare bad policy.

In my article on alternatives to the Revised Common Lectionary, I praised the African American Lectionary's extensive resources, but I didn't really describe them in any detail. There is a wealth of good stuff on the AAL website. The AAL is based on weekly themes, many of which do not correspond to the liturgical calendar the RCL follows. This Sunday is Caregivers Day, one of several new AAL observances this year.

Friday's food stamps cut is simply the end of a temporary increase. That’s a small comfort for struggling Americans whose tight grocery budgets just got tighter.

Of the four projects I focused on in my article on alternate lectionaries, Eric Lemonholm's Open Source Lectionary arguably got the least attention—the fewest words, the fourth slot of four. But that's not because I found it to be the least interesting or significant.

It's true: the rollout of the Obamacare federal exchange has been a mess. And while the problems began with technical issues, they're threatening to become a whole lot more. This week's Capitol Hill circus was all about who's to blame. Is it the feds' fault or the contractors'? To those of us who, whatever our political sympathies, don't have an immediate dog in the blame game, the answer seems obvious: regardless of where the specific problems originated, it was the Obama administration's job to get this thing done. And the administration failed.

Here in Chicago, reporter Rob Wilderboer found a compelling story last week: The Chicago Police Department throws out about $2 million every year. It’s money that is forfeited by the city when police destroy the guns they seize rather than sell them to licensed firearms dealers. The decision is made for emotional, political and ideological reasons. Wilderboer sets it up as a simple choice: money for the CPD/other City services? Or the satisfaction of destroying weapons?

Daniel Mayes is a Disciples of Christ pastor. He did his D.Min. at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, where Timothy Slemmons—creator of the Year D project, which I wrote about for the Century—was one of his advisors. Mayes’s church, First Christian Church of Spencer, Iowa, has been using Year D in worship throughout the current liturgical year. I asked him a few questions about how it’s gone.