It’s time we recognize the multiple lessons and blessings from Covid. From this growing national tragedy, we can actually emerge wiser and stronger if we take a hard look at ourselves and see what we can learn from these travails. Lesson and blessing one: The Redesigned Meaning of “Going to Church.” Churches may shift from being primarily building-defined, i.e., they are a physical place to go, to primarily worship and service-defined, i.e., they are a place to connect to God... Read more
Trump’s lies have hastened the deaths of approximately 266,000 people SO FAR in the US. I would not be in the least surprised to see that number double in the next three months. We are facing an unnecessary apocalypse, all because of an inability or an unwillingness to speak truth. The juxtaposition of those two headlines in the Monday, Nov 30, 2020, WSJ is quite interesting. Folks, Covid-19 cases will explode in the next few weeks–what we see now will be nothing... Read more
I found the neighborhood grocery store overwhelming–calorie-laden packages shouting from every shelf, “Buy me, eat me, get fat with me!” Piles of pre-packaged, pre-processed, sugar-stuffed food accosted me. Simply walking through it made me feel ill. Mid-August, I had to undergo a major foot reconstruction project that confined me to home for several weeks. As I began to move again, I was uncomfortably aware that the weeks of inactivity had led to enough weight gain that I needed to address it,... Read more
The temptation of Amy Coney Barrett, with deep and profound apologies to St. Matthew and St. Luke. And Amy, full of Christian charity and legal knowledge and hungry with ambition, exited the academy and was led into the halls of the highest power of the land. A papaya-toned being at her side said to her, “Just do one tiny favor for me and you will have a lifetime job and unending security.” And Amy answered the being and said, “I... Read more
We are now stuck with the Madness of King Trump, and I put the blame entirely on the President’s doctors here. Either they were lying about how serious Mr. Trump’s illness is OR they have overtreated and put every one of us in danger because of their poor decisions. Did the President’s doctors just put the entire US in danger? Cyberspace is abuzz with the suggestion that Mr. Trump is in the midst of ‘roid mania after his doctors put... Read more
I admit it: something broke in me, irrevocably broke, after I learned that Mr. Trump, upon his release from the hospital on Monday, tweeted, “Don’t be afraid of Covid.” From the newsflash in the October 5 evening online edition of the Washington Post: President Trump returned to the White House from the hospital on Monday, saying that he had recovered from the novel coronavirus and that people should not be afraid of a disease that has killed more than 209,000... Read more
In the world of talionic justice, Mr. Trump deserves to get Covid-19. Frankly, there is some real satisfaction in knowing that the virus finally caught up with him. It’s silly to pretend otherwise. Nonetheless, I pray for him. Many years ago, deep into my seminary studies, I learned the term “talionic justice.” Do you remember the phrase, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?” That’s the basic idea of talionic justice: whatever pain you have inflicted... Read more
Even the smallest of children echo the longings of our eloquent peasant and seek justice and truth. They know when something is unfair, when someone gets a larger portion than deserve, when the Golden Rule has been violated, when hypocrisy reigns. I realize that most of us are not exactly into reading translations from hieroglyphic writings of ancient Egyptian morality tales, but I did do exactly that, spending several hours reading Loren R. Fisher’s translation of The Eloquent Peasant, an... Read more
We could have, and should have, slowed the murderous progression of this virus from the very beginning, but we watched as Trump tweeted and the world burned. It’s all ver the news on this day, Sept 9, 2020. Snippets of a book written by investigator Bob Woodward, taken from taped interviews that President Trump granted him in 2020, have leaked everywhere. The big one: Mr. Trump knew from the very beginning how very, very dangerous the virus that causes Covid-19... Read more
Jesus said, “let your yes be yes, and your no be no.” Following through on promises counts–don’t make them if you can’t keep them. Truth frees; lies enslave. Late in 2019, I entered the joy of multiple experiences with troubling customer service. We were finishing up a long, wonderful cruise (with superb customer service!) when it all began with some overly exuberant gift shopping for our large combined family. We faced a significant packing dilemma–as in, “Ain’t no way to... Read more
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