by jakeowensby | Sep 30, 2022 | Luke 17:5-10
Don Armentrout stood tall enough to ride the big rollercoasters at Disney World and Six Flags. His balding head formed a kind of natural tonsure, and he peered through eyewear that resembled twin magnifying glasses. When I was a seminarian at Sewanee, Don delivered...
by jakeowensby | Sep 24, 2022 | God's love, Human Dignity, Luke 16:19-31, Respect
Eavesdropping is impolite. But sometimes you can’t help overhearing somebody else’s conversation. Waiting for a flight from Atlanta to Chicago, I was sitting across from a man in his early twenties. He was talking on his cell phone. Loudly. About his mother. “What a...
by jakeowensby | Sep 17, 2022 | Luke 16:1-13
Friendship, says C. S. Lewis, “is born at the moment when one [person] says to another “What! You too?” You love this thing that I love? And so it was for one of my oldest friendships. In our boyhood and teen years, R- and I shared a love of Tolkien’s Lord of...
by jakeowensby | Sep 9, 2022 | Luke 15:1-10
My maternal grandparents Joseph and Marie were joined at the hip. My mother and I spent a segment of my childhood and all of my teen years under their roof. They continued to speak German to each other and to my mother. They used broken English with me. Nevertheless,...
by jakeowensby | Sep 2, 2022 | Disordered Love
The Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell was favored to win the 100 Meter at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. He decided not to compete in the event. The qualifying heat fell on a Sunday. For him, honoring the Sabbath precluded work of any kind, including running in a...
