Once upon a time there was a community of rabbis. Like all communities, they had their way of doing things. They had long standing traditions and rules. For example: [Rule #1] All rabbis must invest the majority of their time at the synagogue or temple (because this is where serious God stuff gets accomplished). [Rule […]
These days I’m listening to Winn Collier’s book “A Burning in My Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson.” I am increasingly enamored with the value system promoted via Eugene’s story, and I’m exceedingly convinced that Eugene’s approach to pastoral work, and to simply being human, is richly compatible with the emphatic commendation of […]
“Yet, unbelief doesn’t see God as the ultimate good. So it can’t see sin as the ultimate evil. It instead sees sin as a good thing and thus God’s commands as a stumbling block to joy. In believing the devil, I didn’t need a pentagram pendant to wear, neither did I need to memorize a […]
I have recommended the book “How To Stay Married” (by Harrison Scott Key) to lots of people. Approximately half(ish) of these people say, “I don’t like it!” My theory about why some people don’t like it, is because it makes us feel the way we’re supposed to feel with we read Scripture …uncomfortable and unsettled. […]
Presbyterians love to pray. Arms outstretched from the roof of the world, great wizardly sleeves of those Genevan robes. Eyes wrenched closed, the rhetoric as high as the pulpits; stuffed with well-worn clauses: Lord of lords, and true and living God, and Thy Kingdom come. One of my issues with our grand old waspy church […]
Just finished listening to Daisy Jones & The Six on audiobook. There are a couple of quotes that really hit me as I listened to this book. Here they are: Daisy: “I was caught in a world of my own ego. I had this validation I’d been looking for for such a long time, but […]
Yes. It’s an inescapably peculiar reality, but we do indeed encourage everyone (including children) to read the Bible. Which means, sooner or later, they will perhaps read the following… A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow at the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused […]
When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you and take it over and settle down, and then say, “I’m going to get me a king, a king like all the nations around me,” make sure you get yourself a king whom God, your God, chooses. And make sure he doesn’t build […]
Once upon a time there was a paranoid king. The king told his son and his advisors to kill his most proficient general because he envied his popularity (like how Commodus felt about Maximus). The king’s son rebuked his father for being petulant. The king said “Ok, I’ll chill out.” But then another battle occurred, […]
A group of us were in a meeting with The Boss this morning and He was telling us some stories about an ancient insecure king named Saul. King Saul was dominated by fear of failure. On the day of Saul’s coronation he hid from view because he couldn’t bear the thought of disappointing people; the […]