“…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
“Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess 5:17)
Two of the last three entries in this blog have reflected on ministry and vocation. This entry concludes the series (I think).
As I have been thinking about what it means to do God’s work in today’s world, I have held in the back of my mind the fact that the Bible begins the story of humankind with the Continue reading Ora et Labora
Matt 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4
Memorial Day always elicits in me a sense of profound gratitude mixed with deep sorrow, the sentiments appropriate for prayerful contrition. Wars are tragic, irrefutable evidence of human courage and human evil. Memorial Day calls for gratitude and repentance. The Lord’s Prayer came to my mind repeatedly Monday. This blog will offer a brief reflection on Continue reading A Post-Memorial Day Reflection on the Lord’s Prayer
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
Rom 8:28
I heard it again last week, the platitude people use in the face of tragedy: “We do not know the mind of God. What we see as bad may, in fact, be part of God’s mysterious plan. God is in control.” People seem to need either to comfort themselves over the fact that life is always uncertain and often painful, or to protect God, or their idea of God, from Continue reading Making Theological Trouble for Ourselves or Why I am not a Calvinist
Exod 20:5-6; Deut 5:9-10
A reader and long-time friend emailed me this week with a question concerning the statement in the Decalog that God “visits the iniquities of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate [God]” (Exod 20:5; Deut 5:9; my translation; cf. also Exod 34:6-7; Deut 7:9-10; Jer 32:18; and Ps 105:8=1 Chron 16:15). On its face, this Continue reading Q&A: Intergenerational Guilt
“The world come of age is more god-less and perhaps just because of that closer to God than the world not yet come of age.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letter dated 18 July 1944
Years ago, when I was interim pastor of a small church in Tennessee, a woman in the church stopped me in the hallway between Sunday School and worship to ask for prayer. I am terrible with names, so, anticipating that she had news of illness, death, or difficulty in the life of a church member, family member, or friend, I took out the note pad I kept in my Continue reading Biblical Humanism
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”
Job 41:12
The results of the newly released Pew Research Center survey of the influence of religion on the everyday lives of Americans reveals that those who pray daily and worship weekly also participate in extended family life, engage in charitable giving or service, and report that they are “happy” in significantly greater degrees than the “non-religious” segment of Continue reading There is a Wildness in God’s Mercy