When I posted this two days ago, I was thinking about spring training. I had no idea the Phanatic was about to get a new look. The tweaks were revealed today. He’s dropped a few pounds, and there are some other small changes, but he remains the greatest postmodern non-sequitur of all time.
This piece was originally published at Hobart in the summer of 2013. Editor Aaron Burch was a huge help. The version below is slightly different from the Hobart version.
As an urban rust-belt minister, activist, and writer, I gravitate toward third spaces and common points of reference as a matter of vocation. I like to be where people are, uncovering the things we have in common and the places. There are hospitals and homeless shelters, community centers, coffee shops and church hall basements, bus stops, bars, and ball fields. The conviction at the core of it has to do with the holiness of pluralism and the tension of seeing through our mirrors darkly while wrestling with all kinds of faith; faith in God or people, faith in the redemptive, restorative, and vindicating nature of, say, the Resurrection, or a winning baseball season.
I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and…
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Chris Cocca 