Flawed Glass

I'm beginning a new ministry element today. Each week on Tuesday I'll post a summary of the previous Sunday's sermon, along with daily meditations for the remainder of the week. Note the YouTube links that will take you to specific related sections of the sermon. I'll also post a Bible Study Guide. Please give me lots of feedback! FROM AUGUST 30: Sermon Summary Moses meets God at a burning bush in a nowhere place, while he is a nobody trying to leave his past buried in the sand. The old spiritual, “Go down, Moses,” carries the weight of that call: God does not merely give Moses a private holy moment, but sends him back toward Pharaoh with the word, “Let my people go.” The imagined journey back to Sinai sounds lovely, with prayer, meditation, a mountain climb, and a bush waiting in a manicured garden. Moses’ actual encounter is nothing like that. The desert is quiet, lonely, and safe precisely because nobody is asking questions about Egypt. The burning bush interrupt...

  I ran across a statement years ago that was credited to Mohandas Gandhi. Its origin subsequently has been questioned; however, I don’t care who said it. It remains one of the truest adages I have found. The statement is, “Beware the illusion that you can create a system so nearly perfect that nobody has to be good.” On paper, free enterprise—free market capitalism—may offer the greatest economic potential to the greatest number of people and situations. On paper . But systems don’t stay “on paper;” nor do they run themselves. People run systems. And not all people are good—especially when it comes to economics (“The love of money is the root of all evil.” ~ 1 Timothy 6:10) Free markets do not exist except on paper. Eventually, some person or group has always controlled every market. The result has rarely been good for anyone except the ones in control. Small businesses have been virtually eliminated from the retail market by mega corporations, and the pharmaceutical/medica...

            Revisiting and updating a blog from January 8, 2020: “We live in a globalized world where  partly overlapping  and  partly contradictory  visions of flourishing life coexist in the same public space.” [1]   (Emphases mine) If the above quote accurately describes the reality out of which today’s social interaction emerges (and I believe it does), then the choices and challenges are clear. 1.       We can choose to do nothing: continue living in a pluralistic environment in which some are comfortable, some are uncomfortable and impoverished, and some are fearful because they can neither tolerate nor control the differences. 2.      We can choose the fight/flight response: declare our vision of flourishing life as the only right vision and demand that everyone else agree and conform. If there is resistance, we can choose either to fight to inflict our vision on everyone els...

The greatest Christian heresy today may be the worship of doctrine—the elevation of one set of beliefs (mine or ours) to the level of absolute and infallible, which suggests that I/we can’t be wrong, which implies that I/we end up worshiping myself/ourselves. The heresy (or is it idolatry?) is rooted in a belief that we humans are capable of comprehending God and/or Jesus absolutely. “But the Bible says...” is the justification, again, rooted in an assumption that our interpretation of the Bible is absolute and infallible. “But it’s not an interpretation; it’s God’s word!” OK, let’s go there. Moses asked God, “Let me see you!” and God said, “OK, go into that cave and I’ll pass by the opening of the cave, but you’ll only see my back, because you can’t handle all of me at once!” (Exodus 33:18-23) Paul wrote, “We see as if through a flawed pane of glass—we understand in part.” (I Corinthians 13:12) Matthew presents Jesus as a second Moses. The Sermon on the Mount recalls Moses’ experience...

I am not a psychologist. I have eight graduate hours in psychology (just enough to be dangerous), including a four-hour course in abnormal psychology, which I took in 1970. So even the little education I have in the field is seriously dated. But I have access to resources and know how to do research. I also have training and certification in several counselling models and in conflict resolution, again somewhat dated. So, I have some familiarity with the language and can recognize most symptoms of mental disorders, even if I can’t name them, and that comprises the layman’s perspective I bring to address a sweeping and controversial topic. My comments here will comprise as much question as statement. The impetus for writing is “Guns don’t kill; people do.” I actually agree with that statement . My concern is that at no level of policymaking and administration with capacity to make a difference is anything being done to address the issue of people who kill with guns. The dismissive appro...

  Next month I will have been a pastor for 58 years. I was a licensed minister and preached now and then for eight years before taking on my first (student) pastorate in August of 1968; so the Judeo/Christian Scriptures (the Bible) have been a part of my official work for 66 years. I am amazed—and often disturbed—at the many diverse and often contradictory ways those Scriptures have been understood and applied. Actually, it’s not the variations that disturb me; it’s the anger and bitterness with which we Christians—you know: “blessed are the meek…” “blessed are the peacemakers…” “love your enemies…” Christians—treat each other when we don’t agree. Due to the animosity, I’ve come to prefer the word Christlike over the word Christian as a goal for living. Not everything that is called Christian is “like Christ.” Most recently I’ve seen hostile exchanges over the concept of God’s sovereignty. From where I sit it’s that God can do whatever God darn well pleases. Okay; I can wor...