ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 20, 2022We are past the midway point of this month, and I need to apologize for not using at least one of my Etchings to promote Mental Health Month. It is estimated that nearly 50% of all Americans will experience some sort of mental health condition in their lifetime. Those numbers are rather staggering, and so it doesn’t take a statistician to recognize how every single
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 19, 2022Where is your next step in faith? This is a question I started asking myself a few days ago as I was asking someone else, “Where is your growing edge in your spiritual life?” That’s a line I have used for nearly 20 years, but as the words slipped out of my mouth, I found them coming back on me. There are areas of interest,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 18, 2022His name was Wally, and years ago he ruminated during an Elders’ meeting with the question, “I wonder how many people are more generous with their money than they are with their forgiveness and kindness?” Have people ever used the generosity of their dollars as a means of balancing the scales? Or maybe it is in hopes of distracting from the areas of life where
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 17, 2022From his well known book, “The Prophet,” Khalil Gibran wrote: “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” Those words have been playing in my mind for a month or so. Somewhere in my reflecting and grappling, I was reminded of Jesus saying to his disciples, “…none of you can become my
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 16, 2022Prayer for the Week: How often have we entered into prayer with a broken heart and a spirit feeling incapacitated? Too often, Merciful God; too often… Yet here we are, reading the names of those gunned down in another mass shooting, and though ten deaths seem especially sorrowful, there is never a day without gun violence; without racial and ethnic hatred; without the weak and
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 15, 2022What does it mean to evangelize? It comes from the Greek word we translate as Gospel: euaggelion. It means a good message or good news. I took 20 minutes or so and watched a couple of YouTube preachers offer a message on the Good News of Jesus Christ, and within a short time, I felt worthless, emotionally trashed and beyond rescue… with only a glimmer
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 14, 2022In his book, “If God Is Love , Don’t Be A Jerk,” John Pavloviitz has a chapter entitled: “The Church of Not Being Horrible.” When I first read the chapter title, I laughed out loud. It sounds as if he is setting the bar pretty low, but maybe it’s a good first step. John writes: I’ve always joked that I am going to start a
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 13, 2022This Sunday I plan to continue my look at Luke and Acts, companion volumes telling the story of Jesus and the story of the early church. Here at Cypress Creek Christian Church, we speak so often of God’s unconditional love, a love that is self-giving by nature and relentless in its character. In John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of this love when he says, “This is
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 12, 2022Paul started his correspondence with the church in Rome with the words: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God…” To be set apart for something can have folks going in one of two directions. It can create arrogance or humility. I don’t think we’d be going out on a limb to suggest that Jesus
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 11, 2022Today is the birthday of Glacier National Park in Montana, but let’s be clear, when I say, “birthday,” I’m really referencing the anniversary of the United States government establishing it as a National Park. I feel pretty confident that it was spectacular long before we acknowledged its beauty and splendor with a title. Places like Glacier National Park allow us to touch the grandeur and