Mark 1:15 is flat out my favorite verse in the entire Bible: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news”. It contains the essence of the grace of God and our appropriate response, in the simple unadorned language that is unique to Mark. …
As we move further through Advent to the celebration of the Incarnation, we should continually view this as the celebration of the arrival of the Prince of Peace. To that end, it is worth reflecting upon the primacy of peace in our lives and political activity. There is, of course, an endless stream …
Every time the calendar turns I think, now is the time I can get my shit together. The arrival of a new month, quarter or year. The new Lenten season or Easter Sunday or, as of right now, the Advent season. These days on the calendar get me excited that I can stop doing whatever …
Now that I have your attention, let’s define some terms. What I mean by Christmas is what the broader culture means. Santa and sleighs and office events and shopping and gift giving and receiving. This is almost a universal in the U.S. It really doesn’t matter what, if any, faith anyone possess. I know …
Having just passed the extended Thanksgiving Holiday and read many expressions of thanks it seems appropriate to add mine. I am thankful for many things. First, that I was baptized in Christ by faithful parents and thereby marked with the Cross of Christ forever. I am thankful for their continued example of faithfulness …
This past week I had the opportunity to attend a presentation at church from a retired prosecutor who talked about human trafficking. He presented a dire view of this sad phenomenon and stated in no uncertain terms that this was a pervasive and growing problem. The only trouble, is that he never bothered …
Now we know that all taxes violate the 7th. Commandment as I discussed here. What then should we make of the tax “reform” debate? The criticism of the Republican tax proposal from the Left is that it is a massive tax cut for the wealthy, the Right says it will spur the economy forward. …
The Common Lectionary had this text from Matthew (Mt 22:15-22) as the Gospel reading last week. This and the corresponding Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20:20-26 contains the famous story of Jesus telling the Pharisees to give to Caesar what is his and to give to God the things that are God’s. This is clearly …
I was recently at a ministry program that I am involved in at my local church, the beginning of which involves music and prayer in the Sanctuary. After the music and prayer, when the crowd moved into another room for the rest of the program, the guitarist/singer played the Eagles Song Take It Easy. …
Since we know a bit about how we got here, the question arises where do we go to now. The first thing that I think should be done is to increase the supply of medical providers and medical services. This is likely to be more politically salable and will not risk motivating those politically …
Healthcare Rights & Wrongs Part II:Where To From Here? Read More »