The Thoughtful Pastor - Page 95 of 104 - A pastor ponders life, death, hope, despair, theology and the nature of God

It’s All Around Us

March 13, 2009 By Christy Thomas

As I write today, it is a cold, wet Thursday morning. I have ensconced myself at a window seat in a Macdonald’s near Baylor Hospital, close to downtown Dallas. I just dropped off a friend for his daily radiation treatment in his fight against cancer and headed here to think and write and read a bit. It’s late morning and busy here. Mostly with senior citizens who come and enjoy the low priced “senior coffee” and conversation each each other…. Read more

The Who’s Who Application

March 5, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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Recently, I received a letter from something called the “Cambridge Who’s Who” telling me what an important person I am and that my candidacy to be included in this prestigious directory has been approved. All I have to do is visit my personalized website and fill out the application form there and I’ll be in. Well, it is about time someone recognized how important I am and acknowledged my growing celebrity! Yes, this is written tongue-in-cheek. I get these things… Read more

Life Hurts

February 21, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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As I write this, I’m sitting in the waiting room of Methodist Hospital, Dallas. I’ve just heard a piece of very difficult news about a treasured colleague and friend. Shortly, I’ll be speaking with her about this, but right now, all I can do is weep. My distress is obvious, and a woman sitting across from me comes over and puts her arms around me. “Just cry. It’s OK, let it out.” We talked for a little while. She speaks… Read more

The Gray Zone

February 19, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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Some people are just mean. Mean as in nasty, intentionally hurtful to others in words, actions and thoughts. “Mean” can also describe someone who is stingy with finances, time, love and compassion, but that is not the direction I’m going here. I’m just talking about plain old meanness. People who appear to live with such a sense of entitlement that they carry no concern about their treatment of others. Other people, animals, nature: all these are simply objects to be… Read more

Heathy Gardens and A Holy Lent

February 16, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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My yard is full of weeds this late winter week. I’ve seen this happen before when we’ve moved into a different house and started the progress to an organic lawn and garden maintenance program. Without harsh weed suppressants, the not yet healthy lawn is permeable to every possible weed right now. It’s messy and a little frustrating. I want to just blast it with some magic quick fix product and be done with it. I also know the cost of… Read more

Cell phones and crying babies

February 5, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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“Is that your cell phone?” I squirmed in embarrassment as a well-known theologian and pastor turned to me in the midst of a presentation in a crowded auditorium on the SMU campus and asked that question. I started to apologize when he interrupted me and said, “In our church, we insist that everyone leave their cell phones on and that babies are never shushed. If we don’t have time to listen to crying babies, what do we have time for?… Read more

Geezers and Youth

February 5, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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I sat in the seminar room watching the young and articulate woman across from me explain how she was serving as pastor to a church in what is called the “emergent” stream of Christianity. This young, energetic, vitally alive woman described how they meet in rented facilities on Sunday evenings, all go out to dinner together afterward, and then hit a pub or bar in the area and often have conversations that take them into the next day. How alive!… Read more

Not A Tame Lion

January 28, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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When things aren’t tame, we get hurt or sick or hungry. But without hunger, pain, or anguish, we lose the ability to appreciate the real good when it comes. Mr. Tumnus: He’s not a tame lion. Lucy Pevensie: No… but he is good. “He’s not a tame lion.” Anyone who has read The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis or seen either of the two Narnia movies would recognize that line. It’s Aslan’s description. Aslan, the great lion who… Read more

The Greater the Relationship

January 26, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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“The greater the relationship, the fewer the rules.” I read that phrase many years ago and it has stuck with me since. The truth of it reverberates deep inside me. I see it play itself out over and over. In situations of loving trust, few rules are needed. But when trust begins to break, when one party no longer believes the best of the other, when intentions are questioned, the rules start to mushroom. The financial markets are facing the… Read more

Atheist Bus Signs

January 12, 2009 By Christy Thomas

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There are advertising campaigns in England and Spain which publicize the atheist contention that God does not exist. Apparently highly Roman Catholic Spain has many, many atheists who feel very much discriminated against. So the local atheists have purchased an ad to run on the side of an occasional city bus that reads: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy life.” Now, while I don’t agree with the atheists, I find I disagree even more with the people… Read more