Our true religion is what we do with our solitude. Churches tend to emphasize the activities of discipleship that take place in the fellowship of believers–common worship, mission, looking after one another, and religious education. Once we’re out of the church building and by ourselves, there is often not much from Church that we can …
I attended the Sarasota-Bradenton March for Democracy today. I had to park about a half mile away and walk through the streets to reach the huge crowd that gathered at the Sarasota landmark statue, “Total Surrender.” I went to find out what kinds of people attend such events and to get a feel …
I’m just coming to James Baldwin. I saw the documentary, “I’m Not Your Negro” and found it bristling with insight and heart. I moved on to read, Go Tell it on the Mountain. Pulitzer Prize journalist, Chris Hedges, lists Baldwin and Orwell as his favorite authors. That, for me, is a motivating endorsement. I decided …
A thread that runs through Jesus’ ministry, namely his repeated clashes with demons. To be demon-possessed in Jesus’ time was to have a ruined life. This is because people thought that there was no power strong enough to defeat spiritual evil. Fortunately, for a few people, Jesus possesses spiritual power, which enables him to triumphantly …
One of the Civil Rights Movement’s most penetrating voices was that of James Baldwin. He possessed extraordinary insight into the psychological dynamics of race and relationships. Baldwin’s prolific pen landed him on Time Magazine’s cover in 1963—a reminder of this nation’s smart journalism in those days, despite its entrenched racism. His first novel, Go Tell …
Today, I plunged into one of the primary documents on the doctrine of providence, namely Calvin’s, Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin wrote and revised the Institutes throughout his adult life. The Institutes might be called today a “systemic theology,” because the two volume work is an attempt to expound as a coherent whole all …
One of my seminary classmates, thinking that his fellow students had strayed away from the true faith, conducted a survey. He asked, “What is your core belief? State the heart of your faith in one sentence?” Expecting a range of un-orthodox answers, the surveyor tallied up the responses and was startled to discover that his …
I’m just now becoming acquainted with Chris Hedges, who is a Presbyterian Minister and the son of a Presbyterian minister. More importantly, Chris is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. He has spent the bulk of his career in war zones around the globe. More recently, he teaches in various prisons in New Jersey. I found …
Every year on Christmas Eve, Sandra Baker would make clam chowder–for the whole town. Sandra’s husband was a dairy farmer, which was a good thing, because Sandra simmered her milky clam chowder in trash can-sized pots. In the middle of the afternoon on December 24, she’d get on the phone to the neighbors, tell them …
