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Monthly Archives: April 2009
Beautiful Quilts
I took a group today to the annual Sauder Village Quilt Show, with over 400 on display. Here are a few patterns: Stars… Arcs… Circles… Nature… Rectangles… It was also interesting watching all the women (and a few men) who … Continue reading
Posted in Art
3 Comments
Jesus Is Insane
A few folks have gathered in the youth room for lunch the last two Mondays. We sit on orange and blue couches, or yellow saucer chairs, and eat our sandwiches, bananas and yogurt. We’ve been watching 30 minute segments of … Continue reading
Posted in Jesus
5 Comments
In Praise of Small Changes
In the May issue of Scientific American, Katherine Pollard summarizes current research on the DNA differences between humans and chimpanzees. We share about 99 percent of the 15 billion letters in the human genome with chimps. Pollard has been exploring … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Spiritual Life
2 Comments
Five Tips For Introverted Pastors
I admire extraverts. Crowds energize them — they love the noise, attention and interaction. By contrast, large groups of people leave me feeling depleted. I love people, but when I encounter so many there is too much life on display … Continue reading
Posted in Church
6 Comments
Migrating at Night
Anne Yarbrough at Nova Scotia Island Journal found an Indigo Bunting feeding near her fence. Quoting the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, she notes that this bird migrates at night, using the stars for guidance. It learns its orientation to the … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Spiritual Life
2 Comments
What Are You Looking For?
In The Gospel of John movie, narrated by Christopher Plummer, Mary wears her traditional blue, and Jesus has a charisma that attracts followers. Early in the film John the Baptist, portrayed as a wild man of the desert, points to … Continue reading
A Simple Steeple
Our church facility was built in three stages in the 1960s, beginning with fellowship hall and its steeple. (The sanctuary has no steeple.) This perspective through the oak tree of a workman painting our steeple caught my attention. I like … Continue reading
Posted in Church, History
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Room For Religion
Cathy Lynn Gossman, a journalist with USA Today, is at a Cambridge event featuring scholars exploring the relationship between science and religion. In a lecture by Dame Gillian Beer, Gossman noted this comment about Charles Darwin: People’s opinions don’t go … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
3 Comments
Hate Filled Christian
I am thoroughly convinced that God will let everyone into heaven who, in his considered opinion, can stand it… I often wonder how happy and useful some of the fearful, bitter, lust-ridden, hate-filled Christians I have seen involved in church … Continue reading
Posted in Emotions
7 Comments
I Don’t Want to Forget God
There seems to be a constant decay of all our ideas, even of those which are struck deepest, and in minds the most retentive; so that if they be not sometimes renewed, by repeated exercise of the senses, or reflection … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Spiritual Practices
2 Comments
Ridiculous Resurrection
Our community Good Friday service started 25 minutes late. The procession of the cross through downtown — a ‘Walk of Compassion’ — took longer than expected, and several walkers were also readers in the service. So we waited at the … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Humor
3 Comments
Colored Eggs
Children in Sunday school hung colored eggs on a tree in the Memorial Garden, and the Easter Egg Hunt itself is coming up on Saturday. Last year it was in the snow, but this year it looks like it will … Continue reading
Divine Conspiracy 7
My plan to read Dallas Willard’s book The Divine Conspiracy during Lent has run aground. It was an artificial timetable anyway. I’m reading more slowly now and have resolved to end the book when I end it. In chapter 7 … Continue reading
A Hard Story to Read
Ken at Lost Borders loves walking in the wilderness, but he resists the illusion that nature is ultimately his friend. He knows nature is indifferent to him and could easily kill him if he isn’t careful. The beauty and benevolence … Continue reading
When Raccoons Die
Saturday morning we woke to find a raccoon in our front yard, lying in the myrtle at the edge of our property. It was asleep. Not knowing what to do, we called the sheriff’s office. They told us raccoons are … Continue reading
Hide These Words In My Heart
This week I’ve committed this promise from scripture to memory: Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared. (Prov … Continue reading
Posted in Emotions, Spiritual Practices
1 Comment
Dear Mr President
Students in our midweek Wednesday Night Live program have sent postcards to President Obama, copies of which were displayed on a bulletin board in the hallway. Some of their comments to our new president: We need more parks for kids … Continue reading
Posted in Children
2 Comments
Ecstatic Gods and Exuberant Churches
We finished the last of our group studies on Robert Schnase’s Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. Yesterday we discussed extravagant generosity. Schnase urges people to tithe, and he emphasizes it’s not that the church needs the money but that we … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Theology
2 Comments
