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Sunday, 15 August 2010 |
Our son and his wife have been in Nova Scotia the past few days, visiting our daughter and her family. Earlier this week, as we reviewed their itinerary, Julie and I commented to one another what a nice feeling it was to know they were going to be together, and even though we couldn’t be part of the visit it was very satisfying to realize that as adults they enjoy one another, and their respective spouses also. We may have gotten a lot of other things wrong in our parenting, but at least we didn’t get in the way of their forming a strong sister–brother relationship despite the U.S.–Canadian border which currently divides them.
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Sunday, 01 August 2010 |
There probably isn’t a person here this morning who wouldn’t like to face the problem presented by Jesus’ parable: an abundant harvest; a spectacular harvest; a once-in-a-lifetime beyond-all-imagining harvest. Or to say the same thing in contemporary terms, there isn’t a person among us who wouldn’t like to win the lottery. Oh yes, we know such individuals – because of their new found wealth – often have difficulty relating to family and friends. We’ve heard stories of how lottery winners are besieged by countless strangers hoping for a piece of their largesse. But as I have found myself saying from time to time: that’s a problem I’d like to have; that’s a problem with which I think I could deal. If you, like me, have found yourself saying something like that, perhaps you need to join me in paying attention to this parable.
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Sunday, 25 July 2010 |
Journalist William Powers recalls a recent experience when he was standing at a crosswalk in the middle of Manhattan, alongside five or eight other people – all of whom were staring intently at some digital device. “Here I was in New York, the most fantastic city in the world – so much to look at, to see and hear, and everybody around me essentially wasn’t present (NPR Morning Edition, 7/20/10).”
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Sunday, 11 July 2010 |
In a recent issue of the Christian Century magazine, editor and pastor John Buchanan was speaking about the Westminster Shorter Catechism (which isn’t – short – there are 107 questions!) as the gateway to confirmation among Presbyterian churches, and the ticket to Christ’s table. He observed “The idea is that one becomes a Christian on the basis of what one knows about God, Jesus, the Trinity, [and the various doctrines of the church]. Happily we no longer think like that. Faith is more likely to be defined as following Jesus and becoming part of his people... (6/1/10, p. 3).”
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Sunday, 04 July 2010 |
Dr. Faheem Younus is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and a U.S. Muslim of Pakistani descent. Writing in the Baltimore Sun last month (5/10/10), in the wake of the failed Times Square bombing, Dr. Younous asked why so many plots against the United States have their origins in his native Pakistan. He noted that “at least nine people with some connection to Pakistan have been charged with terror plots against the United States in the past two years. What...accounts for this disturbing trend?”
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