Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
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Of the many stories circulating around the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most bizarre is that of a run on toilet paper. Some stores across the nation are so low on their supply that they have had to ration how many packages a customer can buy. There have been at least two accounts of people …
Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. – Acts 16:25 The psychologist William James once said, “We do not sing because we are happy. We are happy because we sing.” There is something healing, something that connects us with God, when we …
If there are some poor persons among you…don’t be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward your poor fellow Israelites. To the contrary! Open your hand wide to them. You must generously lend them whatever they need. — Deuteronomy 15:7-8 What striking contrasts. “Hard-hearted” vs. soft-hearted. “Tightfisted” vs. open-handed. Which do we choose to be? Hard-hearted/tightfisted was the …
At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” — 1 Kings 19:9 Of the many shared experiences we have in life, asking “Now what?” is one of the most common. We ask that after epoch-marking events. …
If you stray to the right or the left, you will hear a word that comes from behind you: “This is the way; walk in it.” –Isaiah 30:21 One of the most profound revelations I’ve ever come across is that we are programmed to be either liberal or conservative. We’re predetermined to traditional values and …
God kept remembering that they were just flesh, just breath that passes and doesn’t come back. –Psalm 78:39 Have you ever encountered people in your life who you just didn’t like, who irritated you? We all have, of course. They are the ones who ping your internal radar with a warning to avoid them if …
After witnessing the recent State of the Union speech and its aftermath, I’ve made a resolution. In the election of our next president, I no longer care much about political party, nor even about a conservative or liberal orientation. Rather, after the votes are tallied in November, I hope the result will be the election …
“Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life? If you can’t do such a small thing, why worry about the rest?” –Luke 12:25-26 Just as we can be enslaved by seeking the conditional love of others, so can we enslave ourselves by our self-chosen problems and projects. I have a …
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” –Luke 2:32 (NRSV) Father Henri Nouwen once said that if we are concerned with the world’s “if’s,” then we are destined to be enslaved. We look for love, and the world gives it… “if.” If you think like me, …
I am relieved by the proposal recently hammered out by the inclusive, high-level mediating group dealing with the future of our denomination. If it ends up being presented at, and approved by, the 2020 General Conference in May, then the decades-old wrangling over gay ordination and same-sex marriage may finally come to an end. It …