Besides reading the NYT, I've been known to consume a lot of cable news. Regarding that news consumption, there are channels I watch (like MSNBC), channels I don't watch (like FOX News), and channels I should watch (like CSPAN). Why should I be watching CSPAN you ask? Well because it features pure, boring, unfiltered documentation of Congress. That…

On April 12, 1861 The New York Times published, "THE WAR IMMINENT." It was a telegraphed, live reporting from Charleston, SC of the final hours before the first shots of the Civil War. Those shots did not signify the separation of the Southern States into the Confederacy, because that had already occurred earlier. Rather it symbolized a violent nat…

In an August 4, 1856 article about a Florida flood, the New York Times deferred to printing the local expertise of The Tampa Peninsular. In that article we learn that there are different kinds of journalist covering events in different ways, and sometimes one journalist can cover several approaches. Today’s lectionary reading (in a year devoted to …

The New York Times was born in the 1850's: a time of radicalism versus conservatism within society. The backstory is integral to understanding the whole story of the newspaper. And so it is with the Good News, according to the Gospel of Matthew 1:1-17. Because outside of what we imagine conservative and liberal to mean, Jesus was a radical: dealing…

The Good News: The Ordinary Times podcast will be returning for Season 2 on January 8, 2023. The Bad News: So will my awkward Dad jokes.Autor: Jason T. Smith

By 1961 Orvil Eugene Dryfoos had become the publisher of the New York times, succeeding his father-in-law Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who in turn had succeeded his father-in-law Adolph Ochs. He proved to be a caretaker for the New York Times. So, Dryfoos wasn’t working the metaphorical “banker’s hours” of 9-5 but what bank hours were becoming. Automati…

An October 23, 1933 presidential election article from the times entitled, “GAVE ROOSEVELT 7,060,017 PLURALITY.” It was more than a story of what was won, it was a story of what was lost… and who lost it. If you listen to this podcast often, then you know where I am going with this. There is a parallel between this news story and the Good News narr…

Contrary to my mother’s advice, I’ve found that you can learn a lot from following a crowd. At least that’s what one author found in a New York Times article from July 15, 1929 about the death of Eng Fooi Shue (one of the leading merchants of Chinatown) and the crowds that gathered to mourn him. The newspaper's publisher learned to use that crowd t…

The September 14th, 1925 NY Times article entitled, “Macy Says Moses Abuses His Power” is an Op Ed against Robert Moses, the New York public official who built a bridge to carry urbanites to Jones Beach past the outer boroughs. As goes New York, so goes the nation: and the era of new roads to new homes would be exported to every American city. Here…

In 1986 the New York Times did a book review of an author whose persona would later double as a character in a popular film. You may have first encountered neurologist Oliver Sacks played by Robin Williams in the movie “Awakenings”, but in real life he wrote the book that it was based on and also a curiously titled work entitled “The Man Who Mistoo…

In a letter to the editor from 1992, a Japanese-American guest columnist told how he never felt like an outsider on the small farm in Utah that he was raised on. His parents were first and second-generation Americans and they raised all of their children as Americans. As far as the author was concerned, he looked, acted, felt and was perceived as 1…

A March 31st, 2018 opinion piece in the New York Times called “God and Her (Female) Clergy“ caught my eye. It told of the historic resistance to women in ministry amongst Christian and Jewish congregations across America. It shared how this was usually explained by citing Old Testament Law and New Testament Epistle as the justification. Then it cit…

In 2019 a New York Times author thought it would be fun to visit the house that she grew up in but hadn't seen since she was 15 years old. To her surprise, the owner invited her, her parents and husband inside to see the changes. And there were changes... and not all good ones. Jesus' most famous parable in Luke 5:11-32 explores what happens when a…

Almost a year before September 11th, the definitive start of the story of the 21st century, friends, family, patrons of the arts and parishioners gathered to eulogize a man who worked to tell some of the great stories of the 20th century. His was born Ellwood Keiser, but was known as Father Bud: a Catholic Paulist priest and Hollywood filmmaker. Je…

In 2019 a New York Times article shared how the federal government ordered that the case against Eric Garner's killers be dropped. They were NYPD officers. You may have been surprised, but God was not. In our Scripture reading for today, we learn of Jesus’ response to the threat of state sanctioned violence. Violence that threatened to execute law …

As we take a break from the liturgical season of Ordinary time, we will pivot to interviewing guests with insight for how current events in our daily news intersect with what we learn from the Good News of Jesus. Our friend Josh Daly shares about his involvement with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and how Luke 4:1-14 applies to Christians caug…

What we see and how we see changes. So, we employ specialist to help us see.Helping people see is what Eugene G. Wiseman did for a living and in a September 28, 1922 opinion piece called “An Optometrist Protests” he proceeded to clarify what several other professions should do as well. Helping people see is also the subject of our current lectionar…

Nestled in the fourth of six columns of stories on the fourth page of the March 22, 1918, issue of The New York Times is a headline that reads, “PRISON TERM FOR PREACHER.” The author relays the story of Rev. Clarence H. Waldron, a pacifist, Pentecostal preacher in the green mountain state just north of New York. Earlier that week a Federal court in…

On January 31, 1915, the New York Times printed “SOUTHERNER URGES EQUALITY FOR NEGRO.” Dr. Charles Hillman Brough was advocating for equal footing amongst the races. But soon after slowly ascending from the plain of equality with Black fellow Arkansans, he found himself looking down on them from the familiar perch of White Supremacy. He could not v…

A letter to the editor titled “Sailors of Yesteryear.” appeared in the May 6, 1911 edition of the New York Times. It was written as a response to a question from a prior article’s question, “Where are the sailors of yesteryear?“ Luke 5:1-11 shares with us a story of Jesus calling Peter from his former career as a sailor (specifically a fisherman) a…

We Contemporary-Christians hold many hybrid identities. An article entitled, “MANY FLOCK TO HEAR FREE SYNAGOGUE PLANS” from January 28, 1907 tells of when a Jewish-American rabbi came to town but chose to speak to a crowd away from a synagogue. He was also a Reform rabbi with plenty of ideas concerning change. More than an Americanism, could the gi…

The July 24, 1904, article “ANARCHISTS FROM EUROPE.” grew from the pulsing fear that foreign agents were engaged in a revolutionary campaign threatening America. What was especially troubling was the allegation that the suspects would potentially be disguised as members of the Salvation Army (what the article calls “Salvationists”). Revolutions wer…

On September 27, 1900, the New York Times reported in “The President At A Wedding.” that President McKinley returned to his hometown for a celebration. In American culture, rings of metal evolved to become the primary symbols of the institution of marriage. Likewise, marriages became a symbol of the notion of family itself. But there are many forms…

All stories begin with water. At least the ones that ended up being printed in Adolph Och’s New York Times. That is because the printing process begins with it. Both Reform Judaism and Reformed Protestantism are drenched in a similar metanarrative: the idea of an elect people submerged in salvation history. One version of that story appears in our …

This introduction to the series centers around Luke 1:1-4 and the life of publisher Adolph S. Ochs.Autor: Jason T. Smith

Introduction theme for every episode.Autor: Jason T. Smith

Starting Sunday, January 2nd, The Ordinary Times: stories for people who only attend church on Christmas and Easter.Autor: Jason

April and Lauren are joined by Pastor Ryan Ogrodowicz to discuss the upcoming feast of All Saint’s Day and the comfort of a proper theology of death and grieving as a Christian.

April and Lauren are joined by seminary wives, Kristen Einertson and Tessa Muench, to discuss the importance of homemaking in forming a liturgical life, as well as some ideas for the upcoming feast of Michaelmas.

“Hymnody is the narrative of God’s people.” Pastor Chris Hull and Lynea Sander of Zion Lutheran, Tomball join us to discuss the importance of hymnody in the life of the baptized.

“Tradition is the solution to a problem we’ve forgotten.” Pastor William Weedon joins us for the inaugural episode to give an apology for liturgical living and shares some practical tips for making it happen in the day-to-day.

In this episode I sit down with my true blue buddy Marla Schmitz and we chat about community, and mom life, and wife life, and all the things.Autor: Shanna Steinbach

Preview episode of the Ordinary Times PodcastAutor: Shanna Steinbach