ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 2, 2023What does it mean to change your life? Within Christianity, following Jesus has become more associated with new or additional beliefs than a noticeable transformation in one’s daily life. A change in behavior can follow a change in beliefs, but in more and more settings, there is less and less connection between beliefs and behavior. Or, to say it another way, there is a great
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 1, 2023Good morning to June 1, 2023. A new month with new opportunities. It is Pride Month for all those in the LGBTQ community and their allies. It is also the month for Alzheimer’s Awareness, Gun Violence, PSTD, and Immigrant Heritage. Now, all these groups and the concerns they raise should not be confined to a single month, but there is something about focusing attention and
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 31, 2023What makes a child good or bad? You often hear someone say to a child, “Now be a good little boy (girl/child).” What is meant by that? I’m sure a few of you reading this were absolute angels when you were younger, but the rest of us were probably a mix of good and bad and a whole host of other things. But this raises
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 30, 2023I recently read I John 4:8 in a way I had never read it before. I John 4 is a chapter in the Bible I know well, and our Identity Statement at Cypress Creek Christian Church comes from I John 4 (We love because God first loved us). Vs. 8 says, “The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love.” Until
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 29, 2023Prayer for the Week: We seek to live in such a way that we honor the gift of yourself, O Triune God, poured into your church in the form of the Spirit, the Sacred Wind, the Divine Breath. From a Formless Void seeking the touch of a Creative Spark to a Valley of Dry Bones waiting for the Gift of Life, we—the church—are a Body
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 28, 2023In the beginning verses of Acts 2, we read: When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting… Change is always right around the corner. All it takes is a good spiritual wind to blow
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 27, 2023I was checking the news headlines, and in the science section of CNN’s website, I read: Ancient toilets unearthed in Jerusalem reveal a debilitating and sometimes fatal disease. I had to stop everything and read the article. These toilets were from a time about 700 years before Jesus, and they were fancy. Middle-class people did not have toilets. These belonged to the uber-wealthy, yet what
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 26, 2023This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, the Birthday of the Church. First of all, wear something red, pink, scarlet, ruby, wine, cherry, or whatever else might give a hint of fire. Yes, this is the Sunday when we celebrate the Holy Spirit igniting the church (Body of Christ). We read in Acts 2:3-4, “The disciples saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 25, 2023Yesterday, I had a little container that had just a small amount of salsa in it. I brought the container home to recycle, but as I walked toward the pantry where we put the recycling, I dropped it. It exploded. Ugh! Double ugh! There was not much salsa in the container, but it was as if it multiplied and expanded as it was released from
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 24, 2023A couple of times this past Sunday, I said to people, “I love doing baptisms.” The funny thing is that a number of people responded, “It shows!” I’m glad to hear that my energy and joy around baptisms are visible, and though at times I might come off as being a little goofy, it is genuine. Sunday’s baptism of Joanna Andersen was so special for