What's Tony Thinking

What Churches Can Do

March 31, 2025 — I very much liked this piece on Substack from David Fitch. If I were a still the pastor of a church I would be encouraging us to reflect on this piece and consider implementing those practices to which we felt called. In the meantime, I encourage those of you who are pastors or lay people... Read More

At the Weekend: Pope Sends Vance Back to Catechism

March 29, 2025 — This week Pope Francis sent a letter to U.S. Catholic Bishops addressing the policies of mass deportation of the current administration. He begins with the Exodus story of a people who were migrants and aliens, going on to note that Jesus too was a refugee whose family fled their homeland when his life was threatened.... Read More

Who Dun It? Trump!

March 25, 2025 — Netflix is running a new whodunit, The Residence, about a murder in the White House. It stars Uzo Aduba as the relentless, no-nonsense detective, Cordelia Cupp. It’s great fun. Witty and fast-paced, well acted by a large cast. Spoiler Alert: Although I will not name the culprit, I will give sufficient description that you will probably be... Read More

Are the Dem’s Listening?

March 22, 2025 — After being elected as the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee in February Ken Martin said, “We’ve got the right message. What we need to do is connect it back with the voters.” In other words, we need to get voters to listen to us. Really? Or could it be that it is the... Read More

Sacrifice and The Crisis in Masculinity

March 20, 2025 — Here’s an unlikely conversation: one between Fleming Rutledge, preacher and biblical scholar, whose work I highlighted in my last post, and Ted Gioia, musician, music critic and blogger, who publishes “The Honest Broker” on Substack. In that post I mentioned Fleming’s emphasis on “The Unpopularity of Sacrifice in Today’s Culture.” In contemporary culture there is,... Read More

The Blood of Christ

March 17, 2025 — The second session of our Lenten webinar based on Fleming Rutledge’s book, The Crucifixion, didn’t happen last evening. A glitch. It happens. Apologies. The chapter on the agenda, and which will be again next Monday, March 24, was entitled “The Blood Sacrifice.” It is a terrific chapter, which covers a lot of important ground. What... Read More

The Time of Chaos

March 14, 2025 — How many times this week have I read or heard the words “uncertainty,” “chaos,” and “disruption”? Too many to count. In The Atlantic, journalist Jerusalem Demsas wrote an article titled “Trump UnLeashes Chaos Economy.” “What we have,” says Demsas, “is chaos. One U.S. uncertainty index of economic policy, which goes back to 1985, has been higher... Read More

The Joy Of It

March 11, 2025 — I know these are dark days. I am especially feeling the rupture, an entirely unnecessary one, of the U.S. relationship with Canada. I have done a lot of work with churches and seminaries in Canada. I have dear friends and colleagues there. Currently, I am working with the United Church of Canada on a project... Read More

The Other Side of the Coin

March 8, 2025 — On Thursday I wrote on the critical problem at the heart of Trumpism. Trump and MAGA propagate a distorted, alternate reality which rests on lies, half-truths and “bully lies.” A “bully lie,” (I can’t remember who gave us this apt description) is when the bully on the playground takes your hat and dances around with... Read More

But Not Through Me

March 6, 2025 — The great danger of Donald Trump is that he creates his own reality. He does this through lies, partial truths, distortions and appeals to people’s fears and hopes. “America will be rich again, America will be great again,” he purred on Tuesday. I listened to some of his talk to the Congress where all of... Read More

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