Let’s face it: Skipping Advent is the real “reason for the season.” The birth of Jesus has nothing to do with it. Immediately after Thanksgiving (and possibly before, but I was not shopping then), walking into a mall or any large store means an assault on the senses with happy, jolly Christmas music, all fine and good when skipping Advent is the goal. Why? Listen to Advent music: It’s pretty well all in a minor key, set to make us... Read more
I recently totally shocked a lovely, younger, faithful Christian friend by telling her I thought we should stop teaching the Bible to children. Scene One: The Bible Study The Bible study group was small for our last meeting. I almost wanted to put off the lesson because it was one of my best. I wanted more to know about it (a little personal pride perhaps?) but changed my mind. And so we began that particular lesson on Luke 15. At... Read more
It is starting to make sense to see Trump as Messiah. Clearly, I’ve had a change of thought about him and his impact. With a bit of horrified fascination, I have been watching the doubling down of support to return Donald J Trump, the voice and influence behind an armed insurrection against the US, to the Presidency. Even with nearly countless charges against him in Federal and State courts, his followers have not and will not back down. One group... Read more
Bad theology teaches us that God is in the business of smiting us whenever God may be, for whatever reason, displeased with us. [Note: names have been changed to protect privacy.] We were heading out for our late afternoon Tuesday socializing-with-friends time. Just over a block from our house, an elderly neighbor waved us down and asked us to help get her dog, currently running loose. We immediately agreed to help. My husband was somewhat acquainted with the woman, whom... Read more
I was told today that I could no longer call myself a “biological female” but must use the term, “assigned female at birth (AFAB).” Well, hmmm . . . according to a person whom I respect, I can no longer refer to myself as a biological female and remain sensitive to the transgender community. I am now an “assigned female at birth” (AFAB) person. Would love to know the person who did the “assigning.” What power that person had!!!! I’m... Read more
The headline grabbed me the moment I opened the paper as Southern Baptists ready themselves to bar women from pastoral roles and the title. I opened the New York Times today and find, in this prime spot just above the fold, this headline: Baptists Push To Bar Women From Ministry. A few minutes later, the results of the vote came through: Yes, women remained barred from the pastoral title in Southern Baptist churches. Several years ago, I read this story: ... Read more
I was sitting at my computer, gasping for breath, trying to contain the internal anguish as I remembered Bill Gothard. That anguish gushed uncontrollably as I finished watching “Shiny, Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets,” now streaming on Amazon Prime. As part of it, I saw some old footage of Bill Gothard teaching one of his many Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts (IBLC) seminars. As the camera panned the packed coliseum, I realized I could be one of the people in... Read more
I suspect few of us can understand the price Joe Biden has paid to live out his deep Catholic faith in the unforgiving public eye. This photo displays the church where Joe Biden worships when he is home in Wilmington, Delaware, St. Joseph on the Brandywine. It’s also where my husband spent his elementary school years and the site of not only the graves of my husband’s parents but also where President Biden’s father, mother, first wife, Neilia, infant daughter,... Read more
A human universal: We learn and grow the most when we are uncomfortable, when our current ways of thinking are challenged. My husband exploded with rage across the breakfast table. He was reading the Sunday Telegraph, a British newspaper, and had just learned that HarperCollins publishers are “rewriting” most of beloved British mystery novelist Agatha Christie’s books to remove “objectionable language.” See the story here. As in “God forbid that anyone become even the slightest bit uncomfortable by reading fun mysteries... Read more
If the oppression of women is what Allah demands, then that conception of Allah deserves nothing but contempt. Let me elaborate here. That Afghanistan is a nation of starving people barely makes the news anymore. The suffering was horrible two years ago, and appeared to worsen last year. They are now deep into their cold, cold winter months with a large percentage of the population down to absolute zero in resources. On top of being ruled by the Taliban, a group... Read more
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