A few years ago the comedian Norm MacDonald passed away, and I had taken one of his jokes, "The Moth Story" and reworked it. The reworking it gives it a bit of a Christian ministry message. I don't think Norm would disapprove (that much). I put in on our ministerial website for Bukal Life Care. …
Category: Chaplaincy/CPE
Reconciliation and Gehazi. Pastoral Care Reflections, Part 2
Gehazi was a servant of the prophet Elisha. This role gave him a unique ability to serve as a mediator for the prophet. Also in that role he potentially has the ability to serve as a mediator for God in some sense. Three chapters later, Gehazi served as the storyteller for Elisha to the King …
Continue reading Reconciliation and Gehazi. Pastoral Care Reflections, Part 2
Our Uniqueness in Common Humanity (Max Warren and Anton Boisen)
I like to promote the 7 Rules of Interreligious Dialogue that was put forward by Max Warren (Anglican Missiologist) back in the 1960s. In my Interreligious Dialogue class, I asked my students to explain the 7 Rules in their own words. I stopped in the middle of grading because I began thinking. They did a …
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Being a Bad Coach, and How that May Relate to a Bad Minister
I was listening to sports radio yesterday. The issue brought up was about an audio file of Rick Patino, a very successful college mens basketball coach. He was ripping into his team verbally and swearing at them. The question posed was whether today's student athletes can handle this sort of coaching... or are they now …
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Is Quoting the Bible the Wrong Way to Use it Sometimes
I wrote an article for our counseling center the answers the question "Aren't You the Counseling Center that Doesn't Use the Bible?" My view is that we do use the Bible... while SOME of the groups that use the Bible are using it... sub-biblically. Anyway... you can decide for yourself: http://bukallifecare.org/2023/07/19/arent-you-the-group-that-doesnt-use-the-bible/
Critique on RTV (“Read This Verse”) Counseling— Part Two
Continuing from Part 1. CLICK HERE if you haven't read Part 1 yet. #3. "RTV" Counsleing often devolves into bad hermeneutics on two levels. On the first level, there is often bad hermeneutics (process of interpretation) of the Bible. For example, a common RTV passage for counseling is Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things …
Continue reading Critique on RTV (“Read This Verse”) Counseling— Part Two
Critique on RTV (“Read This Verse”) Counseling— Part 1
I used to be a mechanical engineer working for one of the larger defense contractors in the world. Sometimes we would have short-cut solutions to problems. In people's homes, one of the big shortcuts is duck tape (also spelled duct tape, incorrectly, at times). We did not use duck tape however, but one of our …
Continue reading Critique on RTV (“Read This Verse”) Counseling— Part 1
Christian Missions and Pastoral Care
Christian Missions seems so opposite to Pastoral Care. Christian Missions is usually linked with proclamation and apologetics. Pastoral Care is more tied to listening and eductive learning. Christian Missions usually seeks to change others. Pastoral Care is usually more focused on empowering others to change themselves--- or at least understand themselves better. But there are …
St. Jerome’s Bad Advice to the Grieving
I have been reading a book--- Jerome: His Life, Writings and Controversies, by J.N.D. Kelly. Jerome is... complex. He has done some great things, such as recognize and support the importance, especially in the Western Church, of taking Biblical languages (1st Century Greek, and ancient Hebrew) seriously in both translation and interpretation. However, in his …