“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him (Jesse’s oldest son Eliab); for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” I Samuel 16:7 NRSV In Biblical …
Scripture References: The Parable of the Two Sons in Matthew 21:28-32, Paul’s Honest Struggles with Doing the Right Thing in Romans 7: 21-8:17, and Isaiah’s Promise of Guidance in Isaiah 30:18-26. Directions Before Reading: Get a journal to write down what you read and think about in this session. You can use any version of …
“For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12 NRSV) After the recent power outages, I had been off the computer for some time to conserve …
“Do not let those who wait for you (God) be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.” (Psalm 25:3 NRSV) The second Impeachment Trial arguments have been made and I personally have a confession to make: I just never want to hear the name of the former president again in my …
Are We Designated Survivors of a Narcissistic Coup? Read More »
“Sleeper, Awake! Rise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14 NRSV) Black lives still matter this February as we continue to struggle with getting the vaccine to everyone during a pandemic. Racism is real and pervasive in our culture and that is part of my most recent “woke” revelation. During this …
“Indeed, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17 NRSV) Back in the early days of Christian Media, I got hooked on the televangelist Jim Bakker. I was a true fan and listened to the PTL Club …
“All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” (1 Corinthians 10:23-24 NRSV) The Apostle Paul really wrestled intellectually and spiritually with the Corinthian church. This pluralistic congregation struggled to live …
Drawing a Line of Acceptable Congressional Behavior Read More »
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20 NRSV) He strolled confidently into my high school first period Spanish class, like he was strolling onto a yatch. A sophisticated teenager who spoke French, Spanish and English because his father was …
“Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as his ancestor David had done; but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel.” (2 Chronicles 28:1-2 NRSV). In the Bible, according …
“For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7) In my senior year at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, my curriculum included one extended unit of Clinical Pastoral education (CPE) at Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital as a Student Chaplain. One of …