This is my 1000th post. My first post was written exactly 8 years ago today. This works out to one post every 2.9 days. Why do that? Madness? Possibly. But at risk of bing a wee bit schmaltzy--- it may be LOVE. Of course, love is a very sloppy term. Two quotes kind of come …
Month: October 2018
Making Little Ones Stumble
My children went to a Christian school in middle and high school. Overall, it was probably a good experience for them. In their previous school, also a Christian school, they were bullied for being "foreign." But the school they transferred to was multi-ethnic and multi-national. They fit in quite well. The school genuinely sought to …
What to Do with the Unresponsive?
One of my students is writing on the mission work of Paul as it may provide insight to his ministerial context. Describing the targets of Paul's work, my student described three groups. First, he noted that Paul reached out to Jews. He would go to the synagogue and share Jesus as Messiah, Lord, and Savior. …
Andrew Carnegie and the Question of the Compassion
Teaching about William Carey and his arguments with some members of the Particularist Baptists regarding "the use of means to evangelize the heathen" reminded me of the story of another William. He is William Carnegie, the father of 19th century industrialist Andrew Carnegie. According to the story, William was attending a local Secessionist Presbyterian Church …
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The Secret is…
The Secret is... there is no secret. Many Christians throughout history have doubted this, however. Starting in the first two centuries of the church, the Gnostic sects taught that they had special, secret, knowledge that people needed to have access to God. Irenaeus argued against the Gnostics that God's revelation is found in Holy Scripture, …
No. Not All of the Time…
This was a short sermon I did for the International Student Worship Group at our seminary. I like to look at common statements or stories and look at them in a different way. One I like to turn around sometimes is the saying, God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is …
Loving Gridlock in Government and Ministry
A political election is coming up in the US this November. They are a challenge for me because my friends come from a wide variety of perspectives. I sometimes find myself siding with one side and sometimes with the other, but never consistently with either side. The reason for this is that "I Love Gridlock." …
St. Paul as a “One Idea Man”?
Was St. Paul a healthy-minded missionary, or an obsessed madman. Let's consider a few quotes from the 19th century and early 20th century to bring some consideration to this thought. This is not an idle consideration. Many see Paul as the ideal missionary. We should consider whether our ideals are, in fact, ideal. One of …
Virginia Satir, The Good Place, and Infotainment
My wife and I just started binge-watching a couple of seasons of "The Good Place" a few days ago. Before that, we had not heard about it--- it was only at the suggestion of our daughters that we looked it up and began watching. Being a Newbie, I don't know to what extent the show …
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Training Our Replacements
Suppose you worked at ABC Widgets, Inc..And suppose that your responsibility was the very delicate installation of the whosiwhatsit into the widget. You have done it for 20 years. The company has become very dependent on you. But one day, maybe your 62nd birthday, your supervisor comes up to you with some young person. The …