Author: Tom Leinbach

According to my WordPress dashboard, this is my 100^th post. I started the blog three years ago shortly after retiring from active ministry in December of 2017. I was looking for neither fame nor fortune (needless to say), much less notoriety. I simply wanted to keep my hand in things.

Over that time I’ve been afforded the opportunity to pontificate in ways I could not while still working as a pastor. I have the freedom, that is, to say things more openly without undue concern for offending anyone. I’ve also been able to express built-up frustrations about the past and present state of the church – no small thing.

The blog’s overall theme, the connection between Christianity and culture, has long been an interest of mine. I am reminded of a quote attributed to the great Swiss theologian, Karl Barth: “We must hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.”

Continue reading “Random Thoughts at 100”

One of the most annoying, yet oft-used phrases heard within my denomination is the ever popular: “Speak truth to power!” It also doesn’t help that it’s usually uttered with no small amount of self-congratulating sanctimony.

Yet despite this, and as a Christian, I actually agree with the phrase. Challenging the “strong” who exploit and oppress the “weak” and vulnerable is one of the central themes of biblical faith. Jesus, after all, was the preeminent “underdog,” as was both Israel and the early church.

So why am I so dismissive of a phrase with which I heartily agree?

Continue reading “Speak Truth to Power!”

Shortly after visiting the United States in the early 1920s, British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked that “America is a nation with the soul of a church.” He was both impressed and appalled by the idea.

What he observed is that Americans often fail, consciously or unconsciously, to distinguish between church and state, denying their separate spheres. This despite the fact that the Bible unambiguously defines the church as wholly distinct from “the world,” even warning the faithful that the latter is under the power and control of Satan, no less!

A few years after Chesterton’s visit, in the fall of 1930, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer arrived at New York’s Union Theological Seminary, arguably the foremost American seminary at the time.

Continue reading “Christian Realism”

There are certain words and phrases used by our political class that I find particularly irksome. For example, a few years ago I began noticing virtually every politician and talking head on TV news programs would preface their remarks with the word: “Look.” Where to I’m never quite sure.

But by far the most annoying phrase I’ve heard over the last few years, from both the Left and the Right, is this little gem: “We need to get to the bottom of this!” What makes this phrase specially grating is that we almost never get to the bottom of anything.

Then again, getting to the bottom of things ought to be our primary objective whenever we assess any issue of our day, despite, as I say, the fact that we never actually seem to. Instead, we indulge in surface analyses, mindlessly refusing to investigate life at its depths, life at its core, and refusing to get to the “bottom” of anything. We simply take things at face value.

Continue reading “Getting to the Bottom of It”

Every Christmas Eve day, at 10:00 in the morning, I faithfully listen to the live BBC broadcast from King’s College Chapel, Cambridge of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. There’s just something about the solemnity and grandeur they manage to bring to the occasion.

To say nothing of the music. I absolutely love it, particularly the congregational singing, more so even than the stellar choral anthems. 

I love the earthy resonance and sheer weightiness of the organ, together with the slow, measured, yet always spirited tempo of hundreds of voices seamlessly joined together, topped off by an arrangement for the sopranos that soars impossibly and resplendently above the entire proceedings, all worthily contained within the improbable acoustics of the old, majestic chapel. 

Continue reading “Passing Through Providence”

In many respects, WWI is the defining moment in modern Western history. As the 19^th century ended, incipient tensions had come to the fore, casting cautionary shadows over a new century’s overweening confidence and sense of optimism.

The technological progress of the era had been extraordinary. Science and industry were ascendent. Yet economic disparities grew, industrial workers were exploited, and the fabric of traditional society began to fray. Many felt uncertain, adrift, vulnerable.

Thus, when war came, some saw it as a referendum on Western Civilization itself. For a new challenge had arisen, one that had effectively questioned the supremacy of settled tradition. German Idealism, that is, promised a new man and a new future, mercifully detached from the past and its myriad sins and imperfections.

Continue reading “But the Earth Abideth Forever…”

While having coffee with a friend recently, the subject of pluralism came up. Not one to pass up the opportunity to pontificate, I affirmed the value of pluralism while arguing that what passes for pluralism these days is mostly anything but.

Calls for “diversity” are on offer instead. Yet diversity is really nothing at all like pluralism.

Pluralism is based on differing ideas, perspectives, backgrounds, and identities, each granted free expression. Out of this cacophony of varied and sometimes contentious speech, consensus hopefully emerges.

Continue reading “What Ever Happened to Pluralism?”

I used to visit Shirley often. She was an elderly church member who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Yet her mind remained sharp, vibrant, and probing. I always looked forward to talking with her.

One day, sitting in her living room, we got onto the subject of church attendance. A lifelong churchgoer herself, she expressed concern that neither of her two children had any interest, despite attending regularly growing up.

When questioned, her son told her he thought himself a highly moral person who always tries to live a good life. As such, he didn’t really see the need to go to church. Unsure how to counter his argument, she asked me what I would say.

Continue reading “Passport Out of Provincialism”

In preparing the liturgy for a service I recently led, I chose the classic Abide with Me as one of the hymns. To my surprise, the church secretary emailed back and suggested I leave out the last verse. Why? Because it’s so depressing, what with Covid and all. Funny, all along I had thought it a hymn of comfort and hope.

The offending stanza reads like this: “Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.”

Then again, I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’ve long believed that the unofficial religion of American is positive thinking. Just think good thoughts and everything will work out.

Continue reading “The Lesson from 2020?”

There’s a fictional story of “show-and-tell” at an elementary school. The assignment? To bring something to class that symbolizes your faith.

The first child gets up and says, “I’m a Catholic, and I brought my rosary beads.”

The second goes to the front of the class and says, “I’m Jewish, and I brought a yarmulke.”

The third stands up and announces, “I’m a Congregationalist, and I brought a casserole.”

As much as I love the lightheartedness of this joke, it does make a serious point. It suggests that Christian doctrine may no longer hold a place of honor in our churches.

Continue reading “Sermon: “A Case for Dogmatics””