What's Tony Thinking

The Art of Subtraction

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January 19, 2024 — It turns out that our response to most any problem is to add. Add an addition to your house. Add a new class to your workout. Add clothes to your wardrobe. Add information to your life. Add a personal life coach to your doctor, therapist, pastor and support group. Add a new hack to your... Read More

Pod Save America

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January 15, 2024 — “Pod Save America” is the title of a podcast that some former Obama staffers started in 2016. I listened for a while, but opted out on that one. But I did become, during the pandemic, very appreciative of podcasts and continue to listen to them while working out at the Ballad Health Club or on... Read More

Confounded by Trump’s Popularity?

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January 12, 2024 — Are you confounded by Donald Trump’s continuing popularity? I sure am. Not just confounded. Astounded. Aggravated. Perplexed. Perturbed and pretty darn close to poleaxed. The Iowa Caucuses are now two days away. Barring a miracle, Trump will win it easily, overwhelmingly. I follow the reports on Iowa voters and can’t figure out how in the... Read More

Pro Institutions

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January 11, 2024 — “Pro Institutions” may count as the least sexy blog post header of all time. But (for today) it’s mine, and I’m sticking to it. The other day I was going through books on my shelves with an eye toward weeding out some for the used book vendor. One that I initially culled was Yuval Levin’s... Read More

The Church Year, Epiphany and the Crisis of the Church

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January 9, 2024 — We had the happy privilege of marking the Feast of Epiphany (January 6) by sharing dinner with dear friends, including their Lutheran pastor. One of our hosts said that she had only lately come to understand the liturgical calendar, which meant we were now marking the end of the twelve days of Christmas and the... Read More

The 20/20 Morality of Hindsight

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January 8, 2024 — Do you ever wonder what things we do or accept today that may be condemned by subsequent generations? Car culture and fossil fuel use for sure. We look back, these days, pretty clear about the “sins of the fathers.” That is, the sins and failures of those no longer living. We now agree, for example,... Read More

Beware Self-FulFilling Prophecies

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January 3, 2024 — I began ordained ministry in the mid-1970’s. I know . . . a long time ago. It soon became apparent to me that my part of church world — liberal or mainline Protestantism — faced big challenges. So much so that a better word for us than “mainline” was “sideline.” We had the problem of... Read More

Reasons for Hope in 2024

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January 1, 2024 — My last post dwelt on the dangers of extremists, not only in Israel and Palestine, but also here at home in these United States. Those dangers are real, as are plenty of others. Nevertheless, are there also reasons for being (cautiously) optimistic as we enter upon 2024? Perhaps sensing a bleak mood among their readers,... Read More

The Warning to the US from Hamas and Israel

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December 30, 2023 — Readers may have noticed that after devoting several blogs to the Israel — Hamas War in the wake of October 7, I haven’t written more on that topic. It is not for a lack of concern. It is that I am mindful just how easy it is to offer opinions from a safe distance. I... Read More

Resolutions And/ Or Grace?

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December 28, 2023 — It’s that time of the year, isn’t it, for resolutions? Like others, I’ve put on a few (more than a few) unwanted pounds while enjoying the holidays. And I have a few other habits that verge in the direction of addictive and need attention. Not to mention the logjams that happen in relationships, and justice... Read More