Recently Kris and were in a coffee shopped owned by an Italian family and they served one fine cup of LavAzza. So, we bought a big bag of what makes LavAzza’s family proud. Great crema and taste and the aromas when grinding those beans. One of the best coffees in the world for me. What’s the best cup of coffee you drink? One cup of LavAzza and I’m thinking about sitting with Kris on the coast at Positano last summer,... Read more
Paul offers us a near-summary of the gospel in poetic terms in 2 Timothy 2: 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying:... Read more
In this last post on Karl Giberson’s excellent book Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution I would like to concentrate on two questions. This is probably one too many, but we will give it a go anyway. 1. What does it mean to worship God as Creator of a world where chance is intrinsic to both the creative process and the world we see? 2. Is there a way out of the culture war in... Read more
The last chap of Gary Macy’sThe Hidden History of Women’s Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West demonstrates that the 12th Century saw a new definition of “ordain” and a completely contrary (and historic) view of Abelard (and Heloise). The various factors that led to the current Roman Catholic viewpoint is traced carefully by Macy, and it involved the following features: First, ordination was increasingly and then finally completely connected to two “offices”: priest and deacon. Second, Abelard — the... Read more
Don Johnson, erstwhile pastor in Minneapolis and now in Santa Barbara, connects us to this NY Times article on meetings. How about you, what do you think of meetings? Part of the problem at such meetings is that the leader has not set clear objectives or an agenda, and didn’t assign pre-meeting preparation tasks. Instead, the leader seems to hope that magic will occur, producing a serendipitous solution to some of the problems addressed. Of course, that doesn’t happen. As... Read more
It may be Inauguration Day, but it’s also gospel/Bible study day! IIn Paul’s second letter to Timothy, chapter one, he says this: 8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was... Read more
We in Illinois are proud today; we in the USA are proud today. The Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincolon, an Illinoisan, has taken a new step forward that Lincoln never imagined. Our attention today is on another Illinoisan, someone upon whom Lincoln looks with pride, the 44th President, Barack Obama, an African American, who — with us and the world — today will realize some of what Lincoln dreamed. My favorite biography of Lincoln is called With Malice Toward None:... Read more
What do you think? Would Jesus cancel class for the Inauguration? Read more
Perhaps you’ve already seen this now public letter from our President-Elect to his daughters. Dear Malia and Sasha, I know that you’ve both had a lot of fun these last two years on the campaign trail, going to picnics and parades and state fairs, eating all sorts of junk food your mother and I probably shouldn’t have let you have. But I also know that it hasn’t always been easy for you and Mom, and that as excited as you... Read more
Paul’s Pastoral letters, those written to Timothy and Titus, contain references to the word “gospel” and we want to dip into 1 Timothy 1 today: 8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars... Read more
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