“…what I in turn had received” (1 Cor 15:3, NRSV)
I grew up wanting to believe that I was not much like my Dad, although I was not a very vigorous rebel. I remember sitting across the table from Dad and thinking, “Boy, are you wrong about that,” without saying a word. Beginning in my twenties and accelerating in my thirties when I became a father myself, I began to realize, for example, that my Continue reading Tradition
1 Cor 12:5 (NAS)
I acknowledged a calling to ministry my junior year in high school. To that point, my sole aspiration had been to play piano. Indeed, I continued my piano studies on into my first year in college when the demands of pursuing two degrees, a BM in piano performance and a BA in religion, proved more than I could handle in only seven twenty-four hour days Continue reading “There are a variety of ministries, but the same Lord”
Last week my family celebrated the graduation of my youngest son with a Master’s degree in social work from the School of Social Work of Virginia Commonwealth University. The School of Social Work is large enough to require a separate commencement. I expected to experience all the typical sensations and emotions: pride in my son, a touch of Continue reading Religionless Ministry
Acts 1:8
The story of the early church as told in the book of Acts testifies to the tenacity of tribalism as a major force in human society. A prominent strand of biblical tradition traceable to the call of Abraham and his descendants to serve as the means for God to bring blessing to all the families of the earth (Gen 12:1-3), through the prophetic call for Israel to shine as light Continue reading “Unto the ends of the earth”
“Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29 and par.)
Yesterday churches across the world experienced the highest attendance levels that they will experience all year. Attendance next Sunday, at least in the West, however, will confirm the trends indicated in the surveys about religion and the statistics concerning denominational decline. For many reasons, some clearly identifiable and others
Evidence suggests that two impulses deeply rooted in my religious tradition have recently resurfaced in not-so-subtle disguises to the potential detriment of the church: ministerial servitude and anti-intellectualism. By the former, I mean the constellation of behaviors that churches manifest toward their ministers and that reveal an underlying confusion
Continue reading “Study to show yourself approved unto God…” (2 Tim 2:15)
In the previous entry in this blog, I argued that the most profitable approach to reading prophetic literature involves a variety of “pattern recognition.” Yesterday, the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, I took the opportunity to re-read Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” his famed “I Have a Dream” speech, and the concluding chapter of his