For over a year now, we’ve battled COVID, with a variety of strategies. One of the more controversial one deals with wearing masks, should we or shouldn’t we? If we’ve been fully vaccinated or not? Yeah, it’s partisan and often judgmental. But perhaps we can use COVID masking, which many of us disagree on, as a metaphor for a deeper spiritual truth. One I suspect we may also disagree on. However, this one…
Read MoreSecrets of a Serene Spirit
In a surprise twist, I re-learned the secrets of a serene spirit at a recent memorial service. I met with the family before, and they detailed a very difficult life for their mother Darlene. When just 16, a car accident not only killed the driver in her car, but injured her badly, including the loss of all her teeth. She married three times, and each husband died. Humorously, she wouldn’t marry her longtime boyfriend—she wanted to keep him alive. She lost a young son, one of the most difficult losses when your child dies young. But…
Read MoreConsequences of Easter
We’re still in the afterglow of Easter, Good Friday, and Maundy Thursday. But to truly celebrate these, we need to realize the significance of the most neglected day: Maundy Thursday, the Passover meal that Jesus shared with his followers before the spiritual thunderstorm of Friday and Sunday erupted. That meal has become communion, the Lord’s supper, the eucharist: some bread and wine to remind us of Jesus’ sacrifice. But two dear Christian friends, Cecil Murphey and E Wayne Kempton, combined to change my view. First, here’s an…
Read MoreGiving God Pleasure?
Learning more about God intrigues me: his nature, his heart, and all. Just this week a Facebook discussion explored how God gives us pleasure, which at a minimum means pleasure can be very good. Yes, we can misuse it, but at the core, experiencing pleasure is a grace touch from our Lord. I opened my Online Bible concordance to discover what HE says about it. I found around 80 mentions of mankind and God and pleasure. So being who I am, I…
Read MoreI Love Jesus, Not Sure about the Church
Fairly recent research says America may have more self-declared Christians outside the church than in it. I get that, for a multitude of reasons, and level of commitment certainly is one. Loving Jesus can be nice yet undemanding. Church involvement takes loving Jesus to a more involved level. Jesus attracts people, sometimes churches do not. But I came across a stat that troubles me. George Barna’s research, written about in “Faith and Christianity” on March 30, 2017, went a bit deeper…
Read MoreCancel Culture
“Cancel Culture” has become common term lately, regarding Civil War monuments, the Founding Fathers who owned slaves, or the comments and actions that others or companies make that we disagree with. Sometimes strongly. So, we boycott them. We try to eliminate them from public discourse. Dictionary.com defines it as when people “are said to be canceled after it has been discovered that they have done something offensive. It involves calling out the bad behavior, boycotting their work (such as by not watching their movies or listening to their music), and trying to take away their public platform and power. This is often done … on social media.”
Yes, this touches politics, but not here. Let’s focus on how we, as followers of Jesus…
Read MoreWaiters and Spirituality
We navigate a toxic world of easily offended people that includes those who seem to delight in offending and demeaning others. A recent Facebook discussion on this came up with a helpful metaphor on how to tone down some of the discord. Most of us, myself included, tend to think we’re correct and others would benefit by accepting our beliefs and values. So we share them, they resist, and we up the game. We get more strong and loud, they get more resistant, emotions grow and insults fly. Not good, and relationships often fracture. Perhaps we err by…
Read MoreFound in Translation
Death has invaded my thoughts of late. One of my best friends passed last year from brain cancer. Several friends have died from COVID. And earlier today, our church’s home group met at the home of a member: he inside the family room, we outside on the patio with an open window between. Multiple cancers are about to take him home. We expressed our appreciation of him, of the gifts he brought, we sang a song, and prayed. Out of the blue, I remembered…
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