Mark, the inventor of the gospel genre, had a dire view of the social and political world into which the Apostles would be carrying the message about Jesus. Mark’s 13th Chapter consists of an instructional discourse in which Jesus prepares his followers to brace themselves for a rough ride once Jesus had finished his public …
Victor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor, is doubtless one of the most inspiring thinkers of the 20th century. The core of his insight into the human situation came in the extreme destress of the Nazi death camps. Surrounded by illness and despair, Frankl began to notice that the …
I started hearing about a “war on Christmas” about 10 years ago. This news that Christmas was under siege reached me 30 years into my career as a Presbyterian minister. Over these decades, I’ve developed a fine-tuned antenna for any threats to Christian faith. An important part of a pastor’s calling is responsibility for my …
Religion is temporary. At its best, religious practice is the scaffolding that props up our relationship with God. Religion gets us by until that great day when we behold God face to face. God’s project isn’t to build a new religion. In turn, it is not our task to see religion as the point of our…well…religion.
Let’s begin here: This is disgusting, evil, anti-Christ: “50 pastors sign letter of support for Roy Moore” https://t.co/r3ipnMCl8s — Rachel Held Evans (1981-2019) (@rachelheldevans) November 13, 2017 I really don’t want to write about the Judge Roy Moore flap, mostly because that would entail my taking a position about whether he is suitable to …
Is it Time to Explore the Spiritual Riches Outside the Church? This post is going to be like throwing the Lincoln Logs out on the floor and worrying about building something with them later. This topic has been gurgling around in my thoughts for several weeks. I’ve even started a folder into which I’ve stuffed …
Lin Yutang and his wife slipped into a pew in New York’s Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. Lin hated church. He despised barking dog preachers with simplistic messages. But Lin also loved and admired his wife, an ardent believer, and sometimes went with her to whatever church she might be attending David H. C. Read stepped …
I’m pleased to speak for First Presbyterian Church today to welcome you, our teachers from the Berta Weathersbee Elementary School. Your principal is here, she’s a good friend of our congregation. I want to salute you for your leadership and obvious love of teaching. And…your teaching of love. When I was last with you at …
There was a time when the Church spoke to America. During the 1930’s, the New York Times printed the full text of sermons preached in the city’s large churches. Martin Luther King Jr. got ministers from an array of denominations to link arms and in so doing brought deep moral authority to the Civil Rights …
