1. On this day, we remember early Reformation figure, Clement Marot, died 1544, and also the extraordinary Methodist figure, Mary Bosanquet Fletcher, born 1739. The reading is "Colossians 3:3" by George Herbert.
  2. On this day, we remember Scottish poet Joanna Baillie, born 1762, and author William X. Kienzle, born 1928. The reading is "Death Shall Have No Dominion" by Dylan Thomas.
  3. Life... say this out loud with an aspirational sigh. Gillespie and Riley continue their series on Pilgrim's Progress. This episode, the cross, present-tense Jesus, and getting the direction right.
  4. On this day, we remember Wolfgang Musculus, born 1497, and Jean Vanier, born 1928. The reading is from Wilfred Owen, "At A calvary Near the Ancre."
  5. On this day, we remember two Russians, Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk, d. 1515, and Alexander Men, d. 1990. The reading is from "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
  6. So I exist in this wasteland. A man reduced to a single instinct: get to Mount Zion. Gillespie and Riley read and discuss John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress." This week, chapter one and two, The City of Destruction and Interpreter's House. We talk more about our need for a present tense Jesus, the limits of allegory, and why Jesus isn't a good example for us to follow.
  7. On this day, we remember the founding of Harvard in 1636, and the birthday of Peter Martyr Vermigli, who began teaching in Strassbourg and ended in Zurich. The reading is from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Oscar Wilde.
  8. Today we celebrate the birthday of Jacobus Acontius, author of Satanae Stratagemata, and Thomas Erastus, author of Explicatio gravissimae quaestionis. The reading is a bit better known, a poem from Chad Bird, "Were You There?"
  9. On this day, the "Pilgrims" set sail on Mayflower in 1620. The notable patriarch of American Lutheranism, Henry Melchior Muehlenberg, was born on this day in 1711. The reading is from "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning.
  10. Once I was a pilgrim, a road warrior searching for a righteous end. Gillespie and Riley read and discuss John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress." This week, chapter one, The City of Destruction. We talk about apocalyptic literature, our old friend Plato, the necessity of a real present tense Jesus, and why Riley's version of The Pilgrim's Progress would be a pamphlet.
  11. On this day, we remember the birthday of Tommasso Campanella, utopian and astrologer, and also, Gottfried Arnold, theologian and historian. The reading is the hymn, "Thou Who Breakest Every Chain," by Gottfried Arnold.
  12. On this day, we remember Roman Catholic cardinal and archbishop František Tomášek, who helped the demise of the Czechoslovak communist regime. We also the radical Calvinist Jan van Hembyze, whose betrayal resulted in his beheading in 1584. The reading is by J.R.R. Tolkien, "Song of Aragorn."