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Monthly Archives: August 2009
Seven Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection
James Sire uses a book to answer the question Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All? He might also titled it Why I Believe Christianity Is True. This work offers an apologia for faith and a rationale for being Christian. … Continue reading
Blind Wonder Cat
Gwen Cooper adopted a blind kitten who lost its eyes because of an infection. She wrote about what happened next in Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat. … Continue reading
The Song Remains the Same
E. suffered from Alzheimer’s for nine years before she died early Tuesday morning. At her memorial service today, the chaplain noted even after her mind and memory disappeared, her songs remained with her. She kept singing. So it was fitting … Continue reading
Death Can’t Tell Time
I’ve spent a lot of time lately with death, or with almost-death. I don’t want to get morbid or philosophical, or even squeamish at how messy the process is. I only want to say one thing: death is an inconvenient … Continue reading
Adrian College In August
Adrian College, a small Methodist school, rededicated a garden honoring Arlene and Mickey Phelps, two beloved members of the college community. President Jeff Docking spoke at the ceremony and said he looks out on the garden from his office every … Continue reading
Four Marks of a Good Pastor
At Theolog, Bob Cornwall asks what makes a good pastor, in particular whether seminary training is essential Jesus was relatively uneducated, as were most of his disciples and many of the great saints of history. In certain pockets of the … Continue reading
Robert Wright’s Small God
In a New York Times essay, Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God, says religion and science can stop feuding if each is willing to change. Religion must modify its idea of God to one compatible with evolution. God … Continue reading
All I Need To Know About Salvation, I Learned From My Dog
We walk our dog on Broad Street past Second Baptist Church, and along the way someone often asks, “What kind of dog is he?” “She’s a rescue dog,” we say. “Her name is Jazz. She’s part Basenji, with lots of … Continue reading
Is Blogging Narcissistic?
David Lewicki, a Presbyterian pastor in New York City, pulls back the curtain on a secret of blogging. But blogging, for me, has never been about exposing myself. Rather, it has always been a careful process of hiding as much … Continue reading
The Confucian Middle Way
Harvard scholar Anne Wu believes China and the United States can benefit from a ‘Confucian Middle Way’ as they relate to one another and work together in this century: To use the middle way essentially means that Washington and Beijing … Continue reading
Fields of Gazing Grain
Another funeral yesterday, the third in a week. An 86-year-old woman died in Roseville. In the language of the Bible she was ‘gathered to her people,’ four generations of them. Her granddaughter gave the eulogy. My homily offered Emily Dickinson: … Continue reading
But Donuts Taste Good, and They Stop Crime
Over at Theolog, Richard Kauffman reviews The End of Overeating by David Kessler, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Americans are too fat, and Kessler blames the food and restaurant industry. The food industry has learned what … Continue reading
I Am Not a Kneeler
My wife and I joined hundreds who packed the Presbyterian church Saturday for a memorial service. Tommy, a 23-year-old man, died August 5th in a motorcycle accident in Ohio. His best friends, six young men in black shirts, offered tearful … Continue reading
When Your Funeral Falls On Your Birthday
Yesterday I officiated at a memorial service at the Wellsville United Methodist Church, a small congregation in a white clapboard building surrounded by soybean fields. (Lenawee County boasts some of the richest farmland in the country.) This church ordinarily sees … Continue reading
How To Get the News
I recommend the Christian Science Monitor’s new weekly magazine. When their daily edition ended publication last spring, I felt sad as another newspaper folded, especially one that had earned my respect over the last 20 years. I haven’t read it … Continue reading
Apparently, Planets Run Into One Another
At least, from time to time they do. You’d think there was enough extra space in an infinite universe for this not to happen, but it does. And when there’s a large enough size difference, the big planets pulverize the … Continue reading
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Health Care Reform On a Napkin
For those of us who like short and simple, Peter Grier has sifted President Obama’s health care reform down to four points you can write on a napkin. + Health Insurance: You’d have to have it. + But the Feds … Continue reading
I Was a Male Stripper
Over the winter a pipe burst in the church lounge — water ruined the carpet, and steam damaged the wallpaper. It took time for the insurance settlement to settle, but once that happened work on the room has progressed. Last … Continue reading
Posted in Church
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Nine Blogs
Nine blogs have joined the CCblogs network I belong to: Michael K. Marsh, an Episcopal priest in Texas, takes the name Interrupting the Silence from Thomas Keating. Michael seeks “to stand at the intersection of Episcopal breadth and Orthodox depth.” … Continue reading
