Timothy Tennent

The Deeper Issue Facing the United Methodist General Conference

Every four years the United Methodist Church comes together for General Conference, a time for “holy conferencing” and for discerning the future of God’s mission through the “people called Methodist.” Social media is ablaze with defiance as protestors are determined to shut down the conference over the issue of homosexuality. It seems like every four […]

Reflections on the Day of Prayer

Sometimes the President of an institution is the last to know things. I may have been the last to realize that something was stirring in our student body in the last few months. Prayer meetings were breaking out. Sins were being confessed. Reconciliation was taking place. The renewing winds of the Holy Spirit are definitely […]

Why the Little Sisters Will Prevail

By now most Americans have heard about the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic order totally devoted to caring for the elderly poor. As nuns, the sisters take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In the case of this order, they take a fourth vow, the vow of hospitality, since their mission involves […]

Good Friday Reflection

Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 are two of the psalms which Jesus himself quotes from the cross. Most of us know that many of the most familiar lines of the passion are actually Jesus quoting from the daily prayer book of the Jews, which we call the Book of Psalms. “My God, My God, Why […]

What We Can Learn from Stickers That Won’t Come Off Merchandise

Most of us have experienced the frustrating situation where you purchase something from Walmart or Home Depot or Target and when you get your item home you find the price tag almost impossible to get off. You start to pull the sticker up from the edge and, despite how gentle you are, it inevitably begins […]

There Are Really Two Kinds of “No”

Bishop Robert Barron is the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and probably the most active Catholic leader on social media. His YouTube videos on a host of topics have enriched and strengthened Christians everywhere. I am indebted to Father Barron for pointing out that there are two kinds of “no” in the world. It is […]

Living in Faith, Not Fear

My wife and I recently had an experience on an airplane flight which was a first for us. The flight was boarded and the door was shut. We had already gone through the normal pre-flight safety talks and were taxiing out to the main runway, when the person next to us unbuckled his seatbelt and […]

Why I am OK with “Happy Holidays”

It has now become part of the annual ritual to hear Christians express their frustration when they hear someone say, “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” It has become the new “ground zero,” in the larger battle over the role of Christianity in western culture. Every purchase in a store becomes a new test, and […]

The Four Candles of Advent

Advent is a time of hope and expectation as we both remember and anticipate. My favorite Advent hymn is Charles Wesley’s “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” because it captures the longing so well. I would like to highlight four ways or lens through which we should think about Advent. We often designate the four candles […]

Marriage, Human Sexuality, and the Body: Pastoral Concerns (Part XIV)

This is the 14th and final installment in this blog series on the theology of the body. If you want to listen to the messages, they are found by clicking “listen.” — The scope of what has been covered is quite vast, but we will conclude with some pastoral advice in how these issues are […]