10 Commandments and Hubris
I was in Ex 20 this morning. Besides the fact that I have broken every one of the 10 in so many ways except the obvious ones people think of. I often put myself as a god before God. I have used His name in vain. Even when I remember the sabbath (most weeks in [...]
Abandoning Those Most in Need
If you follow what’s going on in the news in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe, you can see what suffering amidst chaos the church is dealing with there. Did anyone at the ELCA Assembly last August even stop to consider how the vote to roster gays would affect our ability to stand with them in solidarity and [...]
In The Originals
A lot of evangelicals–many of them very important to my faith formation–believe and assert that Scripture is “without error in the originals.” A lot of seminaries and Christian colleges and para-church ministries require one to sign a faith statement with just such language. First, there’s nothing I can discern in Scripture that says that. I [...]
ELCA Fallout
In the cover story of this month’s “The Lutheran: ” “Sexuality issue causes division, sadness — and hope: Assessing the fallout from decisions made at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, one can read the following: Jo Hollingsworth, an admittedly left-leaning member of Hope Lutheran Church in Fostoria, Ohio, supports ELCA‘s decisions on sexuality issues. She finds her decision strengthened by [...]
Vision and Orientation
“Look at what is before your eyes.“ 2 Corinthians 10:7a “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 12: 1a-2b So, so often these days we hear about the importance of vision. Vision is important, but it does not matter [...]
Eat This Book
Eugene Peterson is convinced that the “way” we read the Bible is as important as “that” we read the Bible. In Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading, he argues that “Christians are to absorb, imbibe, feed on and digest Scripture.” A translator of Scripture himself, Peterson recommends a type of [...]
The Lord is My Shepherd
The fourth Sunday in Easter is traditionally Good Shepherd Sunday, with readings from Psalm 23 and John 10 especially prominent. Today I found a brief essay that Kenneth E. Bailey wrote on Psalm 23. Dr. Bailey is a voice crying in the wilderness of Christian Middle East studies. “Dr. Bailey spent 40 years (1955-1995) living [...]
Thank God That I Am Not Like The (Re)publican
In Jesus’s day, publicans were often tax collectors, and Scripture lumps them in with sinners as in Mark 2: 16: “When the teachers of the Law, who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors [publicans]… ” They were despised and looked down upon as corrupt and greedy. Jesus tells The Parable [...]
The Hermeneutics Quiz
My girls are forever taking on-line quizzes. They’ll sit there giggling and bonding as they try to discover together which Harry Potter character each is, or which “Saved By The Bell” character each is most like. I just sit and quietly listen to the laughter and thank God that I have kids. Well, last month [...]
Do Good Always
“My Father is working until now, and I am working.” (John 5:17) As far as church seasons go, I think it’s safe to say most of us prefer any other to Lent. With all the introspection, repentance, and self-denial, we don’t often look upon Lent as a joy filled and uplifting season, but then, often [...]