The Kirkcast by Ger Farinas

If you go to a mainline Protestant or Catholic church, you have probably noticed a pattern. You sit in the pew, you open the bulletin, and you see a list of Bible readings for that specific day. Whether you are in a Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic church, you are likely hearing the same stories as millions of other people around the world at that exact same time. This sys...

So, did you miss me after two weeks off the Kirkcast? I’m back just in time for the end of the liturgical year. This Sunday, I’ll be preaching about something else but I wanted to share on this Kirkcast a significant thing about Christ the King Sunday, as it is called on the church calendar. The Feast of Christ the King, started by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as a Catholic holy day, is a surprising celeb...

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Photo: SpaceX via Wikimedia Commons. I want to reflect today on a story I read recently, a story that, in a strange and heartbreaking way, speaks volumes about the limits of human aspiration and the enduring reality of God’s sovereignty over creation. I confess, as a lifelong Trekkie, I have often imagined my own final journey, inspired by that famous, poetic burial of Mr....

Someone from my church said it’s only Tuesday and it’s already been an extremely exhausting week. She asked for me to record a prayer. So, let us pray. Loving God, we come before You weary and heavy with the weight of the world. The headlines never stop. The alerts on our phones shake us awake before we are ready. The voices from places of power shout over each other, while those most vulnerable a...

It’s that time of year again. The pledge cards are coming out, the spreadsheets are starting to grow, and pastors and stewardship teams all over the country are taking a deep breath before we start asking our people to give. If you’re not familiar with Edgewater Presbyterian Church, go ahead and look it up on Wikipedia. You’ll see our 100-year-old building on Chicago’s North Side, a 52,000-square-...

There’s a haunting scene from Renaissance Florence that still speaks to our own time. On May 23, 1498, the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola stood on the gallows in the Piazza della Signoria. The Church that once praised him for his piety now condemned him as a heretic. The same city that once gathered to hear his sermons now gathered to watch him burn. As the flames rose, someone in the crowd s...

Photo: Gerald Farinas. The Cubs may be out of the postseason, but our hearts in Chicago have not lost their rhythm of gratitude. This past Sunday was Pastor Appreciation Day, and the honors continue throughout October with Clergy Appreciation Month. At Edgewater Presbyterian Church, our congregation surprised the Rev. Kristin Hutson with words of deep appreciation during the Prayers of the People....

The fact that I had to meet with a couple of the Edgewater Mutual Aid volunteers about my plan for an ICE raid during the most basic thing of giving out food to hungry people not only saddens me, it angers me to my core. It was just three of us talking. Outside, the other volunteers were starting to gather on the church steps, stamping their feet against the fall chill, chatting softly and keeping...

Chicagoans protest ICE raids on June 10, 2025. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Jesus was neither Republican nor Democrat. He is neither right nor left. And yet, we keep trying to claim him for one side or the other. We quote him to back our policies, to defend our moral certainties, to score points in arguments. But Jesus doesn’t fit inside our party lines. The Gospel never has and never will. Matthew 2...

Pope Leo XIV. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. I am just an armchair theologian, someone who has yet to learn the deeper intricacies of theological thought. But I write what I take to be clear from my lay position. When I first read Pope Leo XIV’s new teaching Dilexi Te , I was skeptical. As a Presbyterian elder, I am not used to looking to Rome for direction. But this letter, officially called an aposto...