Here’s something to think about and discuss: Is the middle class disappearing? From Yahoo! Finance (via HT: BB) The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that... Read more
Psalm 24:7-10 is a double-set of exclamations: in both v. 7 and v. 9 the psalmist exhorts the gates to open, and in vv. 8 and 10 the psalmist describes YHWH and his entrance into the Temple. In the flow of the psalm, everything changes from vv. 2 to 3 and then from vv. 6 to 7. In vv. 4-6 YHWH is on the Temple hill, but in vv. 7-10 YHWH is entering the Temple. One can specify this back... Read more
Parables sometimes get a bum rap. For too many and for too long Christians have read the parables as illustrations of propositions found more clearly in other texts. So, it is argued, Jesus gives a parable about the pearl of great price — a parable that seemingly tells his followers to give it all up for the value of that pearl. The story, so it is understood, is almost cute and surely it is clever, but if you want the... Read more
Andy Rowell is a third year Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) student at Duke Divinity School. His primary concentration is Church, Ministry, and Evangelism and his secondary concentration is New Testament. He blogs at Church Leadership Conversations. What are your suggestions for books about church? 13 Ecclesiology Conversations: Making sense of the Guilds, Conversations, Silos and Books I want to help “congregations” or “local churches” to thrive. What I mean by that is that churches should be sitting under the Scriptures,... Read more
Charles Shields’ biography of Harper Lee is baffling because Harper Lee refused to play the game, except she did play the game for a few innings in the early 60s when her famous novel came out and it was made into a movie with Gregory Peck. I just finished Charles Shields’ biography, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee , and have to say it was a delightful read. Fans and historians and generally interested folks somehow sense they deserve to... Read more
John Mark Hicks, Come to the Table: Revisioning the Lord’s Supper , suggests the Table of the Lord is for all, and for families, including children. So, he urges us to consider the Table as a family event. Here’s why: Table fellowship was a feature of Jesus’ life and ministry, and that table fellowship occurred evenings and around tables and during and after the meal, and there would have been children and families present. The Table of the Lord emerged from table... Read more
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Read more
This review comes at the perfect time. Though we did a series on Walton’s book when it came out, we are treated to review of the book during a period when this topic is fresh and relevant to the posts of RJS. Again, if you’d like to submit a review, please do so… Blog Book Review: The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John Walton The first chapter of Genesis is the most hotly... Read more
This is the 200th edition of Weekly Meanderings, and we get this nice greeting from a Snow Leopard baby! (And I must be crazy.) John Frye sees Jesus as a discernment artist. This is a good read and a big idea. Andy Stanley at his best. Inner peace. David Dunbar nails it for many of us. Time to get off the bus. Allan Bevere posts a map of the most and least religious States. Chaplain Mike, at iMonk, leads... Read more
Review: Inception By Travis Greene Written & directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 148 minutes. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout. Inception begins with a shot of a wave crashing into the shore, as Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggles against the chaos, trying to orient himself against something solid. This is as good an introduction to Inception‘s themes as any. And themes it has, since it is that rarest of animals: a... Read more
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