Perhaps it is time to include a new ritual in the ceremony when we formally install the President or another who holds high public office. The Roman custom of the Triumphus provides a secular model. The victorious general, parading through Rome, was elevated to near-divine status—a moment of dangerous, unchecked adulation. The slave placed in…
Mercy and Memory
Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness. — Psalm 25:6. The psalmist plea is not merely a request; it is an acknowledgement of the human condition. Who among us does not carry the faint echo of youthful folly, the indelible…
Let Justice Roll
The prophet Amos’s declaration—”But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24)—offers a majestic, lyrical vision of societal perfection. Yet, this poetic ideal immediately clashes with the complexity of human reality. Here in North Carolina, we have learned that water, while life-giving, is also an undeniable, powerful force capable…
A Time For Joy
Advent season has always been for me a time for joy. We would decorate our house and tree, attend festive parties with friends and colleagues, even shopping could be a whole lot of fun if you did it the way my friend and I did on Christmas Eve. I attended a lot of Christmas pageants,…
Rage bait
“Rage bait” is the Oxford English Dictionary word of the year. Apparently the fact that rage bait is actually two words didn’t stop the scholars from awarding their highest honor to a phrase that means, “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive.” Just a few months earlier…