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Sorrow Like My Sorrow – Lamentations 1:12
Can we really understand the suffering of another person or they ours?
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What Is Biblical Literacy?
We complain about it, write about it, claim it’s important or even critical, design programs to create it, but what is it? I don’t mean that none of us know what we mean when we say “biblically literate” or “biblically illiterate,” but do we all mean the same thing? I don’t think we do, and…
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Fences: Mending or Rending
The following is a sermon I presented at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Pensacola on September 11,2005 and originally posted here on September 13, 2005. I’m reposting it because when I went to look for it, I found that the original post had somehow been truncated, and also because there is a one word at a…
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Experiencing the (Baptism of the) Holy Spirit
This is a topic where I tend to make just about everyone uncomfortable. Long time readers may recall a previous discussion of speaking in tongues, and my own experience of it. Those who expect me to be intellectually oriented and rational are uncomfortable with mystical experiences, and many who are comfortable with the mystical experiences…
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Broken Covenant Restored (Lent 5B/Jer. 31:31-34)
In a previous post I mentioned that one problem we have with understanding forgiveness is that we tend to make excuses and to blame others rather than feel guilt on our own account. Everything is OK, and we’re “not too bad.” We also lose the impact of some of the richest texts about salvtion, because…
The Problem with Being OK (Lent 5B)
Let me apologize for my failure to write this week. I was busy with book releases, and had little time to write. I did read and think, however! One of the great problems for Christianity in the world tdoay is our general feeling of being OK. Forgiveness is hard in a world where we find…
Embracing the Mysteriousness of God
First, let me put away another mystery, though I doubt anyone was wondering that much. I’ve been working on a couple of new book releases and the resulting schedule kept me from blogging most of the week. No mystery there! The word “mystery” is rather popular today, but only in the sense of something to…
Ken Ham Strikes a Blow for Integrity – NOT
Read more at Exploring our Matrix.
NCIS Acoustic Accuracy
… or not. Since I’m a fan of NCIS, I couldn’t resist linking to this post on The Austringer. I definitely didn’t know any of that stuff!
Tell Your Story
I talk about this quite a bit (here, for example), but I don’t think it can be emphasized enough. It’s very difficult to get people to listen to your theology, your theories about how God works. It’s much easier to get them to listen–and understand–when they hear your story. Psalm 107 from this week’s lectionary…
Liberal illiberalism: Olbermann on Banks and News Outlets
Keith Olbermann, regularly angry about many things, is angry about the bank bonuses. (I blogged some about this here.) His answer? Break up the banks. Regulate the financial industries, to within an inch of their existences. Roll back corporate legal protections. Make liable the officers of corporations, for their debts, and for their deeds. Resurrect…
Charter School Blocked
I’d like to get some more information on this story about a charter school that would target high school dropouts. I know we’re all fighting over money right now, but it seems like this is a good place for innovation. It’s always possible that there really is a problem with the way the money will…
Is it a Homeschooling Case?
By “it” I refer to the the case of Vanessa Mills v. Thomas Mills in Wake County, North Carolina. Timothy Sandefur has written on this, and we also have a short response from Doug on Stones Cry Out. Under a large number of conditions I might agree with Doug, but on reading this ruling, I…
John 3 and the Jesus Message (Lent 4B/John 3:14-21
Darrel Bock (430-433) combines John 3:1-21 into one section, titled “What Do the Signs Show? Jesus and Nicodemus”. John’s next account is of an evening visit by a leader of Judaism. Here, outside the tensions of a public confrontation, in the quiet of table talk, the two eras meet, one old and the other emerging….
Christian Carnival CCLXVIII Posted
… at Crossroads. You can check out the carnival archive here, and consider getting involved by submitting posts and hosting.
A Note on Types and Antitypes
If you aren’t acquainted with the concept of types and antitypes, you will find it much more difficult to see a connection between the lectionary passages and to build sermons that connect the overall story of the gospel. I’m just providing a brief note here, because I saw a good working definition in the Orthodox…
Doxologies in Psalms
On my Participatory Bible Study blog I asked a question and linked to Bob McDonald (Bob’s Log) in the hope he would answer. He did, in the comments. Read the post for the question, the comments for the answer and supporting data.
St. Gregory the Theologian on Ransom and the Bronze Serpent
I was delighted to find this quote via the Orthodox Study Bible, though I must add to my complaints about that edition the fact that they cite church fathers by name, but without providing a reference to the particular work. A visit to the St. Pachomius Library and then ewtn.com resolved the latter question. The…
Brothers at War
Irrespective of one’s view on war, I think we should strongly support our troops and those they leave behind. While I was in the military I was single, but I had close friends who were married and left children behind. One of my best friends was away for the first gulf war for about three…
When a Sign Goes Bad (Lent 4B/Numbers 21:4-9)
Yesterday I wrote about the equivocal nature of the sign of the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, and how it was both a symbol of death, and a symbol of fertility and life in the ancient near east. Today in my reading I checked the notes in the The Jewish Study Bible and found…
Psalm 107 and Artificial Divisions
I did the Old Testament/Psalms portion of my lectionary reading today from the Jewish Study Bible. The notes draw attention to the difficulty in separating Psalm 107 into the next book. The division between books 4 and 5 of the Psalms occurs between Psalm 106 and 107. But these divisions are later than the text…
On Publishing a Conservative Book
First, let me alert all my readers that this is about my business even though this is a personal blog. Second, for those who read my business blog, it will be, to a certain extent, repetitively redundant. Several months ago I decided that I would expand my publication efforts into the area of politics, though…
Grace in Action (Lent 4B)
The passages are Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10 and John 3:14-21. These passages center around the story of the serpent that Moses put on a pole in the wilderness. The omission of verses 4-16 maintains that emphasis even in Psalm 107, though I would recommend reading the entire passage. I am not always…
Relating Ritual, Symbol, and Reality – A Question
I was looking at this week’s lectionary passages, and a relationship with my current study of Leviticus struck me. How precisely do our actions and rituals symbolize what we’re trying to represent? Is it possible that all they do is open up the questions for us? I wrote about some of the oddness of God’s…
In Which a Calvinist Annoys and Delights Me
Or you can call him “Reformed.” I personally dislike that particular term because to many people it implies that other protestants never passed through the reformation, that only the Calvinists “reformed.” All of which can also ignore the adjustments in Catholic theology since the time of the reformation. But that’s all a side issue, and…
When Even Brilliance is Foolish (Lent 3B/1 Cor. 1:18-25)
There are so many ideas that come from reading 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. The worst is the notion that many foolish human notions are actually divine wisdom. Paul doesn’t tell us any such thing. Certainly human wisdom falls far short of God’s wisdom, and we may have some very foolish ideas that we mistake for wisdom,…
Authority (Lent 3B)
Scriptures: Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-25 There are quite a number of places in the gospels where authority is displayed, but in today’s passages we see the theoretical basis or the underlying explanation of God’s sovereignty. There are a number of key elements. These are likely quite obvious to you, but…
The Ministry of Complaining
I once preached a sermon by that title, and my main point was simply that complaining can be a valuable activity. We need people who notice things that are wrong and are willing to point them out. We need critics. I was reminded of that sermon today when I read the post Clergy Haters from…