ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 23, 2023About a month ago, as I was driving to church on Sunday morning around 6:30am, I dropped by the convenience store for caffeine. I was dressed up, wearing a tie, and someone in the store made a comment. I said, “I’m headed to church.” He says, “Oh, it is church day.” I laughed, but that phrase sort of bothered me as the day progressed… even
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 22, 2023Like you, I am heartbroken and angry and dumbfounded, along with a handful of other emotions that have no words. I’m talking about the shooting of Ralph Yarl (and others recently), the 16-year-old from Kansas City. It is one more window through which we must pause and glimpse the fear-driven hatred still prevalent in our society. I know the area of the shooting well, as
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 21, 2023Kat Armas is a Cuban American author and theologian, and I recently listened to her online talk about a Guatemalan woman by the name of Rigoberta Menchú. Menchú won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her work on the rights of indigenous women. Her earliest experiences of Christianity were those of a Christianity born out of colonialism, a form of Christianity that was all
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 20, 2023Toward the end of Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth, he writes: “Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (16:13-14). I find it interesting how Paul connects standing firm, being courageous, and being strong to doing all things in love. You would think that doing everything in love would only
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 19, 2023We are a little more than a week past Easter, and I sort of wonder if there is anything different in our attitude, outlook, or way of living because of Easter. No matter how you might understand the Good News of Easter, it is pretty clear that something pretty significant happened (that might be a bit of an understatement). For me, it is a message
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 18, 2023On Sunday morning, before most folks had arrived, I noticed outside the west entrance to the Forum Building a dead squirrel. Let’s be honest: a dead squirrel doesn’t quite express the welcome we are wishing to portray. I have disposed of a few dead animals from the property in the past, but not on Sunday morning. God bless Ron Munday, who took on the task
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 17, 2023Prayer for the Week: The power drops, and the light begins to dim. Give us strength, O God. Create within us resilience for the challenges that come our way. Provide for us a steadfastness, even when it feels as if our failures are causing us to fall back. Exhaustion, on top of sadness, mixed with some negative voices, can drain every ounce of our life
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 16, 2023Let us remember these words from 1 John 4:20: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” On April 13, 1919, Brigadier-General Dyer of the British military had his soldiers open fire on a peaceful gathering in
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 15, 2023Donna and I got away for a couple of nights, and yesterday morning, as I was on an elliptical machine in the workout center of the hotel, I watched a little girl run around the outdoor pool while her mother sat close by. It might have been one of those moments where the mother was thinking, “I’ll let her burn off some energy before we
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 14, 2023In Hebrews 13:6, we read, “So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid…’” It reminds me of a quote I have used a few too many times, but I like it. Helen Keller said, “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot