All Posts By

Steve Mathonnet-VanderWell

This Will Be a Sign for You

Driving by the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Des Moines, the sign* read,     Any night a child is born     Is a holy night. I smiled inwardly, a

Read More »

Funner

Exhibit One: Once while spending the weekend at my college roommate’s home, we worshipped at his Nazarene Church.  Small, sincere, and pure holiness. The “old”

Read More »

Go Ask the Kingdom

The Kingdom of God There is hardly a more powerful phrase or image in all of scripture. It stirs me, stretches my imagination, fills me

Read More »
Blog

A Blogger’s Dilemma/Whine

It’s about me. It’s all about me.  The Twelve is supposed to move and work within that great tradition of Reformed cultural commentary. As a

Read More »

Names, Words, and Power

The first football game I attended upon moving to Iowa pitted the Dutch against the Norse. Who knew such strong ethnic sentiments still persisted? Team

Read More »
Blog

The Order of Things

Dear Jesus,I know I have done wrong things that have made Your heart sad. Thank you for paying the price for my mistakes with your

Read More »

Breda

  The Surrender of Breda is a gigantic, life-size painting by Diego Velasquez (1599-1660). Mentioning it here on The Twelve, with its inordinate amount of

Read More »
Blog

Syria, Aquinas, Augustine, and Just War

When Christians are asked to evaluate the ethics of war, “just war theory”—that a war is justified— quickly enters the conversation. Here I offer some

Read More »

Beauregard

 At the 2009 Washington Correspondents’ Dinner, comedienne Wanda Sykes joked with President Obama, “They even gave you grief about your dog, about Bo. ‘Why didn’t

Read More »