Ruby Washington/New York Times. Sinead O’Connor experimented with gospel, dipping into the repertory of the Soul Stirrers, Blind Willie Johnson, Mahalia Jackson and Nina Simone over the weekend at Alice Tully Hall.

• Old time religion in modern guise: Sinead O’Connor in gospel sessions at Lincoln Center (New York Times)
• Return of the Jesus Wars by Ross Douthat (New York Times)
• Why is it hard for liberals to talk about family values? (The Atlantic)
• Pope’s gay tolerance no shock by Kirsten Powers (USA Today)
• Can a horror film lead people to God? (RNS)
• How to keep Millennials in church? Let’s keep church uncool by Brett McKracken (Washington Post)
• Something happened on the way to Bountiful: Everyone sang along (New York Times)

* Bono – Husband, Father, Advocate (Focus on the Family)
* Bono: David sang the blues and Jesus did some punk rock (RNS)
* The Meaning of Life with Bono (interview with Irish journalist Gay Byrne)
* Atheist Prayer: Religious activity not uncommon amongst non-believers (Huffington Post)
* C. S. Lewis, Evangelical Rock Star by T. M. Luhrmann (NY Times)
* Willie Nelson: Holy man of the honky tonks (Rolling Stone, 1978)
* Lillian Daniel amongst the Unitarian Universalists (Patheos)
* Church without god by design (CNN)
* Saying Grace: Paula Deen, Progressives, and Race by Maria Dixon (Patheos)
* More than a platitude, praying for others promotes hope, optimism by David Briggs (Huffington Post)

“Love is the foolishness of men, and the wisdom of God,” wrote Victor Hugo, French poet and author of Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1802-1885). Below are two of my fave quotes on love from his elegant pen.

“When love has fused and mingled two beings in a sacred and angelic unity, the secret of life has been discovered so far as they are concerned; they are no longer anything more than the two boundaries of the same destiny; they are no longer anything but the two wings of the same spirit. Love, soar.”

–Les Misérables

“Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable.”
– The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

“I would say to young people a number of things. Let them remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity. Let them be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power, and that we can do — every one — our share to redeem the world despite of all absurdities and all the frustration and all disappointments. And above all, remember that the meaning of life is to live life as it if were a work of art. You’re not a machine. When you are young, start working on this great work of art called your own existence.”
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)

By Steve Beard

I’m addicted to “Chopped,” the Food Network cooking competition where chefs battle with culinary wits and creativity. Contestants are given a scandalously brief amount of time to concoct a three course gourmet meal with mystery ingredients such as Swiss chard, red snapper, bubble gum, and Provolone cheese. Somehow, incongruity has to end up being tasty. After each course, dishes are evaluated by celebrity chefs and one contestant is chopped.

Aside from the $10,000 prize, contestants want to become Chopped Champion for the bragging rights or simply to garner the approval of their parents. The competition is fierce and cutthroat. Trash talking is encouraged and bloated egos are on display.

My favorite episode ended up being a cook-off between Lance Nitahara, the chef at Camp of the Woods Resort in the Adirondacks, and Yoanne Magris, a lovely French woman who wanted to win in order to visit her dying grandmother in France.

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Being cut by the Green Bay Packers was not part of the plan. Neither was returning to Cedar Falls, Iowa, and working the nightshift at the Hy-Vee supermarket for $5.50 an hour. Needless to say, playing Arena Football League for the Iowa Barnstormers and then doing a stint in front of Dutch fans in Amsterdam is not exactly the career path for star quarterbacks in the National Football League.

However, that was all part of the zany agony-and-ecstasy trek of quarterback Kurt Warner, a real-deal quarterback who went from stocking shelves in a supermarket to hurling passes in three Super Bowls with two different teams.

The recently retired record-holding, MVP quarterback is going to be hosting a new TV show about second chances, premiering on April 11 on the USA Network. Steve Beard spoke to Warner about the show, his faith, and leadership in the huddle.

Your new show is called The Moment. Seems like you are the perfect host for a show about deferred dreams and second chances. 

I was the guy chasing my dream for a long time and then a number of things brought me to a screeching halt and forced me to work in a grocery store and to travel overseas to make my dream happen. It took somebody giving me a second chance for me to be able to get back in the NFL.

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