Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
“Now when the Human One comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his majestic throne. All the nations will be gathered in front of him.” — Matthew 25:31-32a When the Hebrew slaves were liberated, they were led to the Promised Land. There they formed a nation, installed …
The following was not written by me. On a whim, I asked AI to write a Christmas devotional in a style similar to mine. The result is what you see below. Very humbling that AI wrote this in a matter of seconds. Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone! “For all we do is moved by Your breath, …
I was watching a Netflix series called Department Q [WARNING: Spoiler alert]. I was enjoying its quirkiness…until the dramatic finish. The bad guy breaks into a room with a double-barreled shotgun. He’s no more than ten feet away from our hero. He fires and, amazingly, only hits the detective’s shoulder. A scuffle ensues and the …
[Demetrius said,] “You can see and hear that this Paul has convinced and misled a lot of people, not only in Ephesus but also throughout most of the province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands aren’t really gods.”…Once they heard this, they were beside themselves with anger and began to shout, …
With the current political climate, the Diversity-Equity-Inclusion movement has taken quite a hit. Consequently, it’s been fashionable for some companies to scale back their initiatives in this area. Liberal religious people have expressed outrage at this about-face, but for the life of me I don’t see why. Look at Jesus’ ministry. It’s obvious he’d be …
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me…Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives?” — Matthew 16:24, 26 There is a reason why the late Jimmy Carter only …
Since retiring a few years ago, I’ve been adrift from congregational life. I’ve followed the mandate that you separate yourself from the last congregation to which you’ve been appointed. That gives the new pastor the opportunity to form relationships that are important for pastoral duties. In this outside-church period, I’ve discovered how difficult it is …
In a church I served, two flags were prominently displayed in the chancel area. On one side, the Christian flag. On the other, that of the United States. Throughout my years there, this simple display generated interesting conversations. One was started by a gentleman who stated that we should display the American flag more prominently, …
Whoever comes to you who does not affirm this teaching should not be received nor welcomed into your home, because welcoming people like that is the same thing as sharing in their evil actions. — 2 John 10-11 The first time I read these verses, I was a bit shocked. Aren’t we supposed to be …
As I see social media posts and read stories and blogs, I grow more convinced that we choose our own reality. As Father Richard Rohr expressed, “People with a distorted image of self, world, or God will be largely incapable of experiencing what is Really Real in the world. They’ll see instead what they need …