Ancient Israel was politically and religiously pragmatic. The earliest description of this can be seen in the nation’s clamor for a Golden Calf to quell their fears at Mount Sinai.
Fearing that God had abandoned them, they called for Aaron to cast an idol they could see and worship. They did this In spite of the fact that the Calf was of their own making and had no existence prior to the time when they turned their jewelry into a statue. Continue reading →
I grew up being taught that the Lord’s Prayer was irrelevant to the lives of contemporary Christians because the Kingdom, for which Jesus prays, was now present in the church. Why pray for something that already exists? Right?
So much of my life I missed out on the benefits of living inside the world of Jesus’ concerns and requests of God. It wasn’t until the last several years that the Prayer became a daily part of my life. Continue reading →
I didn’t grow up inside a culture of respect for the earth. “Earth” as a totality – flora and fauna, beauty, wildness, and wonder.
In my childhood we used disposable products with abandon; old car oil was often poured out on the ground, and we never considered the impact that disposed plastics would have on our world. Pesticides caused a decline in bird populations. Oceans started to become big toilets where our detritus was flushed when it rained. And, worst of all, people became as disposable as our throw away products. Continue reading →
A kiosk in the ticket area
Swipe your credit card
Check in for your flight
No TSA here
Walk immediately to the boarding gate
Take a seat among the rows
This waiting room designed for comfort
Some seats even recline
All well padded and upholstered Continue reading →
Les was an old river rat who learned how to craft a life out of little wealth or conventional experience.
Henrietta, his wife, was a good partner because she was just as tough and creative as Les was. Sadly, Les did not treat Henrietta with the respect she was due. Like when she called up to Les while he was roofing a house, asking for some money to purchase shoes for herself. Not wanting to leave his perch, Les wadded up dollar bills and threw them down at her making her look like a bird hunting for worms. Continue reading →
A gargoyle looks down menacingly from its perch on the top of my book shelves. It’s easy to notice in the little 11.5 by 10 feet room.
My office was larger when it lived in a church building. In those days it had room for my 2000 book library and an area large enough for a small meeting. But now my office will hold only 1000 books, a desk, and a small couch.
But that’s enough.
A friend of mine once came into my Lodi office and asked, “Why do you have those evil-looking things in your office,” gesturing toward the ever-vigilant gargoyles. I explained that gargoyles used to be ornaments on ancient church buildings, meant to both act as a rain gutter to direct water away from the church’s walls and also to frighten away evil spirits. But that didn’t comfort her much. Continue reading →
People have debated the cause and purpose of suffering for centuries. Job is the person most associated with this struggle to discover why.
The book of Job is about 4 miserable friends who visit Job to be of some comfort to him. Instead they only add to his pain. “Stop assuming my guilt,” he told them. “….for I have done no wrong,” Job 6:29.
The question of suffering is never solved. No one has ever been able to say categorically that this or that is the reason suffering occurs. The best answers are simply a well-educated guess based on the character of God and the evil of our world. That said, I believe that suffering arises from the choices that human beings make in the exercise of their free will.
Continue reading →
