God's Politics Blog » Phyllis Tickle

A Brief Observation on Your First Morning as President-Elect

Phyllis Tickle — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:45:08 +0000

Whether installed by election, by hereditary right, or by power of arms, of all the rulers humankind has ever had, none is so venerated or cited or—and this is important—none so forgiven by history as is Solomon. Faced with the…

The Last Story of Summer

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:06:17 +0000

Tomorrow is the autumnal equinox and, with its coming, summer officially ends. I have greatly enjoyed these “Summer Sundays” postings and, even more, the letters and e-mails that have resulted. I’ll be moving, 5 October 2008, to explorefaith.net, where I’ll…

Once Upon a Time There Was a House…

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:08:55 +0000

Once upon a time there was a house...

Anything that begins with such words as that usually carries with it the implicit promise that a tale is about to be told. "Once upon a time" rarely is a vehicle for conveying factual or objective truth. Rather, we have learned to [...]

Hyphenated Emergents

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:09:12 +0000

I am going to preach this morning. Actually, in all probability I will be preaching by the time you read this. I will not be away from home in some alien pulpit, though, but at home in my own parish and among those whom I love. I won't preach, of course, [...]

New Life from an Old Hymn

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:03:11 +0000

Christ Episcopal Church in Ponte Vedra, Florida, is the kind of church every pastor, rector, or preacher dreams of. It’s got children running about everywhere. It’s building yet another parking lot for reasons that are [...]

Talismans and Tokens

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:06:26 +0000

I'm not much for talismans or religious tokens in the usual sense of those things. I wear around my neck every day of my life a chain with four emblems or medals on it. One is a Celtic cross given me on my 65th birthday by my favorite college chum from more than a half-century ago. One is [...]

Peach-Pit Philosophy

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:02:45 +0000

There's a great deal of conversation these days about the nature of human consciousness and, as a related issue, about the true definition of "human" and how it can be best described. There's so much such conversation, in fact, that it is essentially impossible (especially [...]

Beer and Bible Night at Kudzu’s

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 11:08:46 +0000

One of the great recent joys of my life has been a thing called "Beer and Bible," which happens every other Tuesday night at a small neighborhood pub in Memphis called, appropriately enough, Kudzu's. Kudzu, our bar's namesake, is the South's most [...]

The Indescribable Drama of Transfiguration

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:02:56 +0000

Next Wednesday is the Feast of the Transfiguration. What that means is that next Wednesday is a major holy day for Christians like me who fall into what is commonly referred to as the "liturgical" category of the faith. That rather ponderous label is a [...]

Bible Stories Your Mother Never Told You — and One to be Told Differently

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:40:25 +0000

Folks in my line of work … i.e., writers in the field of religion … do a lot of talking and lecturing during the fall, winter, and spring months when schools are in session and everyone more or less agrees…

Bible Stories Your Mother Never Told You — and One to be Told Differently

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:07:36 +0000

Folks in my line of work ... i.e., writers in the field of religion ... do a lot of talking and lecturing during the fall, winter, and spring months when schools are in session and everyone more or less agrees that vacation time is over and done with for another [...]

A Crash Course in Jesus Studies

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:04:24 +0000

A Sunday or two ago, I made mention of -- more to the truth, wrote a whole

The Great Experiment and the Great Commandment

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:04:04 +0000

Tomorrow is Bastille Day. We Americans don't take much notice of that these days, but once there was a time when we did. Once was the time, especially as the storm clouds of World War II were gathering over us, when school children and working folk alike [...]

Preachers, Poets, and Storytellers

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:00:10 +0000

July 4 weekend! Now this is a holiday! We won't have another one until Labor Day, but that doesn't even matter right now. What matters is that this is the last day of a glorious three days of blessed interruption. Thank goodness for all such favors.

I [...]

Forbidden Revivals and the Birth of Bluegrass

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:41:56 +0000

In the days of my childhood, summer was the season of the big-tent revivals. More than any other of the myriad things that summer could be and was, it was the revivals that were for me the major descriptor of…

Forbidden Revivals and the Birth of Bluegrass

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:21:56 +0000

Pagans and Patriarchs

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:06:56 +0000

Welcome to summer. Officially and totally summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It's certifiably summer by every means of our accounting, be it psychological or [...]

A Warm Welcome to Summer Sundays

Phyllis Tickle — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:05:26 +0000

Officially speaking and despite what we may all be thinking about the June heat wave the nation is plowing its way through right [...]