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
While this is listed as Part 1, it could be thought of as a continuation of a previous post. I use the story of Naaman the Leper from II Kings 5 to illustrate three of the four pastoral care functions as described by Clebsch and Jaekle. These three (which were orignially identified by Steward Hiltner) …
Continue reading Reconciliation and Gehazi. Pastoral Care Reflections. Part 1
So I think I had already talked about this but I keep coming back to a certain thing I read on social media. Was it FB? Can't remember. Anyway, the writer was giving advice to some American Christians (Evangelical I must presume). He said something to the effect... "When evangelizing someone, you don't need to …
Continue reading More Reflections on Evangelical Political Thinking in the USA
Ryan Burge is a professor of practice at the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University (Click Here for his FB> He likes to share data regarding religion in America, with one specialization being looking at the term "Evangelical." A recent post he shared on FB regarding the term Evangelical was regarding different …
Continue reading “Evangelical”— What to Do When a Label Doesn’t Really Fit You Anymore?
Attending the conference, I thought I would share a few takeaways from it. The way the conference is set up, everyone joins in the initial plenary address (being the meaning of plenary after all). After that, the rest of the day is several breakout sessions, 5 at a time. Because of that, one can only …
I recall the comic books from the 1970s with the goofy advertisements. Along with the Sea Monkeys and X-Ray glasses was a mini-comicstrip advertising an exercise regimen associated with bodybuilder Charles Atlas (aka Angelo Siciliano). His regimen, built around "dynamic tension," I believe, was promoted to teenage boys. The short comic had a scrawny young …
Continue reading Did Samson Look Like Someone Who Might Have Sand Kicked in His Face?
I don't repost very often. However, we are entering Holy Week 2026 and post I did regarding hope seems more relevant than ever. https://munsonmissions.org/2016/02/04/as-a-protest/ Happy Protesting Week!
I was watching one of only a few Religious YouTube channels I peruse--- Gospel Simplicity. In this one, the creator was communicating about what he liked about the Catholic church. It should be noted that the creator is not Roman Catholic. He is actually Anglican. He likes to bring together dialogue between Roman Catholics, Protestants, …
Continue reading Challenge of “Being Nice” in Religious Conversations
Years ago I lived out in the country, on a hill. It was known as "Woodchuck Hill," and that may indicate how disconnected it was from cities and towns. Light pollution was not a thing there. If I walked outside of my house on a clear moonless night, the only artificial light was from a …
I was watching a video on the Youtube Channel, "Gospel Simplicity," where the question "Is ChatGPT a Theologian?" was addressed. There was some good talk about that with two major points. Real theology comes from a place of (1) faith, and (2) faith community. Theological reflection without faith is simply Biblical Studies or Religious Studies. …