What if, instead of celebrating the gift of Jesus by exchanging gifts, we celebrated the life of Jesus by living life the way Jesus taught us? What if, instead of improving the bottom lines of Big Business this gift-giving (and buying) season, we improved the lives of those most in need? “What if,” as even the Grinch concluded, “Christmas, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!” One of the first memories I have... Read more
Ah, Christmas! “The most wonderful time of the year.” A time to gather with family and friends and, with smiles on our faces, pretend we aren’t quietly measuring who received the best present and which of our relatives really, really needs to stop drinking. A time to hang tinsel and baubles from the tree, and time to hang up our hopes of losing that last 10 pounds this year. Such a joyous season! The real point here is that Christmas... Read more
2 Peter 3:11-14 “… what sort of people ought you to be… waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God..” “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” -The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am an unabashed, unapologetic, unrelenting peacenik. I have this crazy, insane, altruistic, pie-in-the-sky, loving belief that the world would be a better place if when we... Read more
For far too long, we’ve been hearing political pundits who lean right and the talking heads on Fox News throwing the words “traditional values” around like a frisbee. To quote Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” When right-leaning thinkers say “traditional values” it’s code language for “the things we want in the United States.” If you push them on it a little, they are... Read more
Is it not grievous enough that, two months ago, we left a child in the street to die; but now have placed justice alongside him to perish? How ironic that the Ferguson decision arrived the week of Thanksgiving. Perhaps it is not so ironic. Perhaps it is the not-so-gentle reminder that we need – that we deserve — as a nation. Maybe it can serve as a reminder of our long and fabled relationship with justice in the United States.... Read more
If you listen to many of the people remaining in the Church, you’d think the exodus of folks who have left and now consider themselves “Spiritual But Not Religious” is all about how “those people” just don’t get it. It certainly couldn’t be about the Church! After all, we Christians have been around for a mighty long time and things have been just fine. Are we supposed to believe that all of a sudden we’re doing something wrong when we... Read more
The “War on Christmas” is nothing more than a distraction. It’s part of a war-on-the-holidays shell game – a misdirect. While the religious right is up in arms about people saying “happy holidays,” the real battle is being fought on Thanksgiving. You? You’re watching the wrong shell. We all are. And we are losing the meaning of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving and its origins have a long and slightly contested history. The thread that runs through all those histories and origins is... Read more
The Parable of the Talents is the story of a lazy slave who buries the talents (think “a lot of money”) his Master gives him and receives exactly what an insolent and do-nothing slave deserves: a demeaning lecture and getting booted to the dark edges of society where he will suffer greatly for his poor stewardship of his master’s money. If you don’t hear in that parable the echoes of the GOP’s perspective about food stamps, universal health care and pretty... Read more
To say I’m disappointed with the outcome of the U.S. mid-term elections is to massively understate the emotion connected to my understanding of what the results mean. I do believe there is much to be learned from this mid-term election. The most significant lesson is that in the US we are well past the tipping point: money is voice and power. We’ve been steadily on our way to that point, but we’ve finally arrived at our destination. Congratulations? You only... Read more
In Proverbs, we are reminded that Wisdom is a thing in which you delight daily. In the life and teachings of Jesus, we are reminded that loving others is one and the same as loving you. As we as a nation, a nation who boldly proclaims across the face of our currency that “In God We Trust,” approach yet another election cycle, we ask that you might inspire in us a deep seated desire to delight in wisdom rather than... Read more
The God Article with Mark Sandlin
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