Christ Rock made a bad joke about Jada Pinkett Smith and Smith’s husband Will walked onstage and hit Chris Rock. Smith went back to his seat and minutes later, won an Oscar. This is our culture. Resorting to violence is a natural impulse of an actor in violent movies and passively witnessing the natural impulse of audiences watching. Perhaps, this could be a pre-planned comedy bit. Who knows what people were thinking as they sat by and watched a man... Read more
“From dust we come, to dust we return,” is spoken at funerals, but it hasn’t really been possible until now. From south of Seattle comes a new alternative to traditional funerals – composting. Bodies are composted into soil by a company called, Recompose: “At the Greenhouse, each body’s transformation from human to soil happens inside of a Recompose vessel. This takes 30 days. The facility houses 10 Recompose vessels, which are constantly monitored. After 30 days, our staff moves the... Read more
According to IMDB, the series Midnight Mass is where “an isolated island community experiences miraculous events – and frightening omens – after the arrival of a charismatic, mysterious young priest.” Until the last minutes of the second of seven one-hour episodes, neither miraculous events nor frightening omens occurred. The first two hours were filled with Catholic mass and talk of God. Islamic prayer, AA meetings and deep, spiritual questions of freewill. I write this while watching episode three. Episode two... Read more
I posted something on Faith on the Fringe this week that appeared to resonate with people. The post reached 120,000 people, and still counting. This is the post: “If our religion is based on salvation, our chief emotions will be fear and trembling. If our religion is based on wonder, our chief emotion will be gratitude.” – Carl Jung Carl Jung was a well-known psychiatrist. But he also wrote about spiritual subjects, as well. Here are a few more Carl... Read more
After generations of opposition to a woman’s right to choose to end a pregnancy, some Republicans have suddenly decided that choice matters when it comes to getting the Covid-19 vaccination. “I don’t believe that government should be doing all these mandates,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. “I think what the government should be doing is providing good information and let businesses and let people make their choices.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken it a step further by saying schools... Read more
According to Frederick Buechner, “Paul WASN’T MUCH TO LOOK AT. “Bald-headed, bowlegged, strongly built, a man small in size, with meeting eyebrows, with a rather large nose.” Years after his death that’s the way the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla describes him.” Paul traveled to: “Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Galatia, Colossae, not to mention side trips to Jerusalem, Cyprus, Crete, Malta, Athens, Syracuse, Rome—there was hardly a whistle-stop in the Mediterranean world that he didn’t make it to eventually.” While he traveled,... Read more
Notes for a sermon… Psalm 130 130:1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. 130:2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 130:3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 130:4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 130:6 my soul waits for the Lord... Read more
When the computer networks at Colonial Pipeline were hacked with ransomware, within days here in Virginia, there was a rush on gas stations, price gauging, and long lines amid fears of gas shortages. More than 40% of the country’s gas is transported through this one network of pipelines. Let me say that again… Nearly half of the gas for the nation was affected and within a few days there was price gauging and lines at the pumps. I try to... Read more
Notes for a sermon… Acts 8:26-39 8:26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 8:27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 8:28 and was returning home; seated... Read more
Jesus in the Garden — An Easter Sunday sermon from 2021. John 20:1-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they... Read more
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