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The below train of thought was prompted by reflection on my grandmother’s death and the opportunity I had to officiate her funeral. She was quite certain about what awaited her on the other side. I, on the other hand, am deeply agnostic about what happens to us when we die.

I have long said that one day I’d like to write an article or a book examining the theology and social ethics of Les Miserables. The recent release of the newest film adaptation has spurred some theological commentary across the internet on this subject. Two of the best examples of this are Beth Haile’s use of the film as a typology of ethical theories and Richard Beck’s “missional” interpretation of individual mercy in light of social justice.

This past week I have shifted into a new phase of ministry, which has necessitated saying goodbye to the congregation that I have served with joy over the past ten years. I was sad to leave, but excited for new possibilities. I was especially good at holding my emotions together over the entire transition, and though I am notorious for “losing it” in worship at the first sign of sentimentality, I held it together through all of my lasts—until it came to the last moment I would be at the church with my now eight-year-old son.

A while back I spent a good chunk of a week at a denominational pastors' retreat in the Alberta foothills just north of Calgary. One of the things we did during our worship times each day was spend some time “dwelling in the Word.” The specific text we focused on each session was Luke 7:36-50, the story where Jesus is anointed by a “sinful woman” at the home of Simon the Pharisee. It’s a scandalous story—a woman of ill repute showing up a bunch of religious elites, crashing their party with her sensuous, inappropriate display of penitence, love, and devotion.

A couple of articles are making the rounds among my friends right now. The first is this Century article by Craig Barnes (the new president of Princeton Seminary), who provides his reflections on why pastors cannot (or should not) be friends with parishioners. Of course there can be close and intimate relationships, and pastor and flock are friendly to one another. But Barnes argues that the clergy role is such that true mutual friendship is impossible, or at least inadvisable. The second article is about a pastor of a large church in Charlotte who’s on a leave of absence at a treatment center after struggling with depression and alcohol abuse.

In a recent TED Talk, Phuc Tran talks about his love for grammar, particularly the use of the subjunctive and indicative. He uses these two types of verbal moods as a tool to look at the world and one’s life.

I continue to encounter—and to find incredibly puzzling—the claim that depicting God creating through evolution portrays God less favorably than depicting God creating directly and instantaneously.

Here are this year's most popular bloggers and posts from the CCblogs network.

Quite a number of people are discussing t-shirts like this one (or the wider use of the sentiment expressed on it) in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. I am glad that fundamentalists are finally being a bit more honest about what they mean by “God.”

Sing us a lullaby, Rachel, the kind of lullaby that you’ve been singing across a lifetime.

Who or what is the book of Job about? Many of us would say the book is the story of Job and about the problem of suffering. When in the past I read Job as the Bible’s discussion of why bad things happen to good people, I found it a frustrating book. While the question of suffering is discussed for chapter after chapter, the question of why people suffer isn’t ever answered--even when God shows up and speaks to Job. God doesn’t answer Job’s and my question.

Does Christian stewardship look different for millennials who grew up in our increasingly post-Christian world replete with Facebook, Justin Bieber, and legalized marijuana? Is the sky blue? Is North Dakota cold in winter? The good folks at Luther Seminary’s Center for Stewardship Leadership and I have been in some conversations recently about young adults and stewardship.